Thrice Bound
by bmidd111
Summary: Indra and Asura, Madara and Hashirama. The cycle had lasted for far longer than it should. A cycle of never-ending hatred between his two sons, spreading down to even their descendants. The Sage had watched it all. But no more. The cycle would end, he decided. With these two boys Sasuke and Naruto. But for it to end, he would have to give the hands of fate a little push.
1. Prolouge

Centuries ago, there was a man who existed in the world. This man was so powerful, many people referred to him as a god. This man saved the world alongside his brother from a monster known as the Ten Tails, or the Juubi. This man was the Sage of the Six Paths, the one who would seal the Juubi inside himself and become it's living prison, the one who would establish peace and order- his name was Hagoromo Otsutsuki. Hagoromo longed for peace, and created teachings known as Ninshu, to guide humanity into the peace he so wished for. With many followers, it seemed at first that the Sage's dream had become a reality. However, he knew that he would not live forever, and on his deathbed, he chose a successor.

Hagoromo himself had two sons, the older and prodigious son Indra, and the younger and talentless Asura. Both sons wished to complete their father's dream, and both had ideas of how to go about it. Indra knew he had power and a weaker version of his Grandmothers eyes- the Sharingan. He knew his power was unique and that he was special. He trained by himself and saw that he could do anything in the world with his own strength. Indra's idea of how to bring peace was through power alone- by dominating the world, he would stop all wars and fighting and bring peace. Asura had no talent or power at first. He couldn't do anything by himself, and was always considered weaker than his brother. However, on his own travels around the world, Asura gained many followers of his own, and many friends. These people were precious to him and he found that by working together with everyone, he was able to do anything.

Eventually, Asura's own Chakra and abilities awakened, and he gained the power he'd inherited from his father also- the body. Asura gained great strength, regenerative abilities, powerful life force and the ability to enter Six Paths Sage Mode. His abilities increased to the point where he was on par with his older brother. On his deathbed, as well as giving his son his inheritance, Hagoromo named Asura as the heir to Ninshu and entrusted him with the task of bringing peace to the world, after which he split the Juubi's Chakra into nine separate entities that he each gave a name to. The Sage then used the last of his life-force to create a construct in which he sealed away the Juubi's husk, which would one day be called the moon. However, Indra, blinded by greed, jealousy and hatred towards his sibling and manipulated by Black Zetsu, a manifestation of their Grandmothers will- challenged his brother for the title of heir. The two brothers fought fiercely, however, eventually Asura defeated his older brother in battle. Indra, now even more enraged at his loss to his 'weakling younger brother' fled and vowed to beat him one day.

Over the years, Indra and Asura continued to battle one another. Both brothers still held their beliefs that power/love was the key to true peace, however, neither had any time to think about that as the battles raged on. Down through the years, they fought, and eventually both started families of their own. Split apart by differing opinions and hatred towards each other's families, the two ended up taking different last names. Asura chose the name of Senju, while Indra chose to change his last name to Uchiha. Over time, the Senju split into two separate Clans, the second becoming known as the Uzumaki Clan. Eventually Indra and Asura both passed on like their father, leaving the Uchiha and Senju to carry on their fight down through the centuries.

However, neither one was willing to give up on their beliefs, and, despite the fact that Asura didn't want to fight anymore, he knew that if he didn't do something, there would be no one to stop Indra when he appeared again in a new life, Asura also wanted to try and mend the rift that had been created between them. So both of the brothers, with such powerful Chakra that they could keep from passing on, chose new vessel's to carry on their beliefs, will and Chakra. Asura chose a Senju as his next reincarnation. This Senju was Hashirama Senju. When Indra chose his Transmigrant, it was an Uchiha boy named Madara Uchiha. Both lived their lives in the Warring States Era, and despite getting off to a good start of being best friends, the hatred between their clans eventually split them apart again. The two fought countless battles, both as children and as adults, but eventually were able to put aside their differences and create the village of Konohagakure, in which children wouldn't have to die and would learn the abilities they needed to survive. Just when it seemed like both friends were going to be able to put an end to the hatred that had plagued themselves and their Clans since the beginning of the Shinobi world- Madara was again manipulated by Black Zetsu, who had altered the Tablet Hagoromo had created to set his Uchiha descendants back on the right path.

Madara left the village, then returned later with The Sage's third oldest son and first creation, Kurama, the Nine Tailed Fox under the control of his Sharingan. The two fought and Hashirama believed that he had killed his former friend; however the man survived by using one of his Mangekyo Sharingan techniques to rewrite time so that he lived, and, still being manipulated by Black Zetsu, integrated a small portion of Hashirama's DNA that he'd managed to bite off during their battle into his own wounds. At first the DNA seemed to do nothing but heal him, but as he reached the end of his natural life, Madara awakened his ancestral fathers Dojutsu, the Rinnegan. With the power of the Sage at his disposal the Uchiha managed to extract the Juubi's body from the moon, which he called the Gedo Statue.

By attaching himself to it, Madara was able to live far beyond his natural lifespan, and eventually met a wounded Uchiha boy named Obito Uchiha from the leaf village that had been found in the underground tunnels that he'd constructed over the years. After drawing the boy over to his side by saving him and having Rin Nohara, the girl he'd loved die by the hand of Obito's best friend, Kakashi Hatake Madara told Obito how to complete the Eye Of The Moon Plan, which, unknown to him, was Kaguya's plan to trap everyone in a fake world while she took back the Chakra that her sons had given to everyone else. Obito, wanting Rin back, gladly followed his ancestors plan after Madara died, leaving him with a creation called Zetsu to watch over and guide him. This is where our story really starts.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Hashirama Senju slowly opened his eyes. The last thing he remembered was fighting in the first Great Ninja War and being struck down from behind. He also remembered the devastated look on his little brother Tobirama's face as he fell. Hashirama was by no means an arrogant person, however, being killed by some no-name Shinobi was pretty embarrassing, even by his standards. The Shodai' sighed, he'd always said he'd protect his last brother and make sure he lived for as long as possible, however, he never imagined after everything he'd been through that it would be _him_ who would get struck down and killed. The man sighed deeply, he was the oldest and he couldn't even protect his own younger brothers.

Hell, Tobirama could have died right after that for all he knew so his death meant nothing in the long run. Thinking about such things brought on the Senju's (in)famous flash depressions and Hashirama slumped over with a dark cloud hovering over him, thundering occasionally. Was his baby brother really dead? Had he really been so much of a failure in life that he couldn't even save _one_ person that he cared about? Suddenly, Hashirama stood up straight again. Yes, he was dead. But if he was dead, then where was he now? Looking around, the Shodai' saw that the area was a – well, he couldn't really call it a _room_ , it was more like a vast expanse of space, swirling with glittering colours, mostly though a combination of dark purple and gold. Looking down, he noticed the floor he was standing on wasn't really a floor at all, instead it was a huge body of water.

Looking down into the depths, Hashirama saw in its reflection that he was dressed in his battle armour and it was pristinely clean, as was his skin and hair. He raised an eyebrow at this. During his time, there was never enough time to spend washing one's body and clothes so that you were completely free of dirt and marks, especially since you would most likely just get dirty again the next day. "Well," he spoke to himself, as there was seemingly no one around but himself to talk to, "this is most definitely an odd situation" he remarked. With no other choice, Hashirama sat down on the surface of the water and crossed his legs, _'I may as well get comfortable, who knows how long I'll be here for'_ he thought.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Hashirama had been in that unknown place for a while now. There wasn't much to do, so the brown-haired man mostly just spent his time training with clones of himself, or wondering the empty plain, trying to see how far it went. One day as he was lying on his back relaxing, the Senju sensed a powerful, but somehow familiar Chakra signature. Hashirama shot up into a sitting position, eyes eagerly scanning the entire area. He didn't know how he knew this person or who they were, but he did know it, and very well in fact. Even more than he knew his father's or brother's Chakra signatures. It was as though, despite the Chakra feeling slightly different, he was sensing _himself_ walking towards him.

Soon a figure came into view. As it came closer, Hashirama was able to make out more and more of the persons feature's. It appeared to be a young man, roughly 20 to 22 years old. He had short brown hair that spiked wildly around his head, a thick wrapping of bandages tied around his forehead, with two bangs of hair framing his face, bound tightly by more bandage to keep it neat. He had almond shaped brown eyes, thin eyebrows and wore a white robe with a high collar with six black Magatama decorating down the chest area in a 'v' pattern. The young man also had a black sash around his waist and two black straps that went over his shoulders like one would carry a pack and it was these that kept a sword tied to his back. Hashirama analyzed all that he could of the man as he walked towards him. His steps were sure and confident, and his body language- having his arms dangling by his sides, but with a straight posture indicated that this man was laid back and easy going but had been raised by some form of nobility at least.

The young man also had an easy smile on his face as he walked slowly towards him, his eyes twinkling with a bright happiness, kindness and youth. However, the former Shodai' could also see the unmistakable look of pain, weariness and regret in this persons eyes, having seen the exact same look in his own eyes every time he saw his reflection. Soon the man came to a stop when he was only a few feet away from Hashirama, still with that happy smile. Hashirama cocked an eyebrow at the young man before him, then spoke, "I'm sorry, but- do I know you from someplace?" he asked curiously. That familiar feeling was really bugging him by now- he felt sure that he should know this person, but he was drawing a blank when he tried to remember where from. The man smiled, "my name is Asura Otsutsuki, you probably wouldn't know me, but there is a reason I feel familiar to you Hashirama- and that is because I basically am you, or rather your previous life" he said. Asura then went on to explain exactly what happened and why they were here. By the end of it, Hashirama was wide eyed with awe and wonder.

"I-I don't even know what to say," he muttered, "I can't believe that I am actually the reincarnation of someone like you, the _son_ of the Sage Of The Six Paths- it's just- wow" he breathed. Asura laughed, "yes, I know it's a lot to take in, but it _is_ true" the Otsutsuki's eyes sparkled with mirth, he'd had a feeling that his Transmigrant would act this way after all. Hashirama stared silently at who he now knew to be his previous life and Transmigrant, until a thought hit him, "wait, we're Transmigrating because our feud with Indra/Madara hasn't been resolved yet right?" he asked. The other man nodded, "that's right" he replied easily. The Shodai' frowned, "if that's the case, then 1. Where is Madara, and 2. Why did we meet out of all the other Transmigrant's we must have had in the past who didn't know any of this?" he asked. The Otsutsuki sighed, closing his eyes, "since your second question is the more important of the two I'll answer that first,".

Asura opened his eyes again, and stared at the man, this time there was no mirth in his eyes, only deep seriousness. Hashirama slightly shifted, wondering if his own serious face looked that intimidating to other people, "my father, the Sage of the Six Paths named me the successor to his teachings of Ninshu on his deathbed, causing my older brother Indra to get furious and jealous. We fought each other and I won eventually after a long and hard battle. At seeing his defeat by my hand, my older brother became even more furious, and left, swearing vengeance on me." Asura paused to sigh deeply at this, while Hashirama listened with a heavy and aching heart, "well, I guess you probably already know what happened after that- the endless battles, going on and on, and on throughout the years, and each time he was defeated, Indra's hatred became stronger and darker than before. Both of us soon had families of our own, and I think you already know what names we chose for ourselves," the Shodai nodded, "you chose the name Senju, didn't you- and Indra chose the name Uchiha?" he asked.

Asura nodded again, "that's right, I had two sons as well and eventually my youngest decided to leave home, also choosing a different name- Uzumaki. My oldest kept the name Senju and he is the one who went on to create the Senju Clan. Meanwhile Indra had also started a family, however, he had passed on his hatred of me and my kin to them. I warned my children of Indra and his new Clan, not wanting the two to fight or get hurt if I could help it, however, I knew that my brother hated me for being chosen over him still and for his defeats at my hand, and I wanted my sons to at least know why their cousins would try to kill them if they met," at this point, the Otsutsuki clenched his fist, anger showing on his face for the first time. He took a deep wavering breath and continued, "soon enough my sons grew up and had families of their own, but that was where things went bad. My youngest son had just had triplets, two boys and a girl, and was coming home to let me meet them, however on the way there, they were attacked by Indra's Uchiha family, and his wife, daughter and one of his sons were killed," Hashirama's eyes showed sadness, he definitely knew how it felt to lose family.

"By the time my son had gotten to me, he was traumatised, and vowed that he and his last remaining son would have nothing to do with our blood feud. Time passed and my Senju children continued to grow and multiply, as did Indra's children. As I grew older, I became slack with my Clan members, not paying as much attention to them as I normally would have, and it was this lack of attention on my part that allowed things to get out of hand. As soon as my oldest son heard what had happened to his baby brother and his family, he became enraged and swore vengeance on those who'd taken his Uzumaki brethren away from him and hurt his precious Otouto so much. I tried to turn him away from that path, but he still loathed the Uchiha for what they'd done, and as soon as I was unaware, he took his Senju Clansmen and attacked the Uchiha. No matter how much I hated it, there was nothing I could do to stop my children and Indra's children from killing each other- so I did the next best thing I could, I tried to curb the hatred that had built up by expressing that love was the key to peace and begging my children and grandchildren not to hate and fight the Uchiha on the day I died," a single tear rolled down Asura's face and hit the water below them.

The tear created ripples in the water, "it was no use though, when I died, both Clans began fighting each other even more than before. I began to despise myself as I watched on from above- all the fighting and killing, it was horrible. It was no use, as long as I had this horrible guilt inside me, I knew I would never be able to pass on, nor could I let my brother continue to spread such hatred and suffering. When I saw that he had transmigrated to a boy from his own Clan, I knew that I had to stop him- not only that, but I also wanted another chance to reconnect with my brother, start fresh if you will. So when Indra entered a newborn body, I followed in an attempt to fix my past mistakes and save my beloved big brother from his hatred and suffering," Asura smiled slightly, "my brother and I went through years and years of Transmigrants, none of them having any luck in stopping the feud between our two families. Finally we entered our most recent bodies- I think you already know this part of the story?" he asked.

Hashirama nodded, "they were Madara and I" he replied, before his eyes became downcast, "we failed as well" he said, depressed. Asura nodded and placed a hand on the long-haired mans arm, "but this time something changed. You may not have succeeded in completely ending the cycle of hatred, but both Indra and I had enough- you two came the closest we ever have to stopping this useless fighting, and before we traveled to our next hosts, my father appeared to us and explained everything that had happened. Indra was obviously furious at having been manipulated this whole time, and was all too glad to help me truly bring peace at last, for he was getting tired of the constant fighting between us. He is currently talking to Madara at this very moment, then, once everyone is ready, we will move on to our next hosts- however we will not be able to communicate with them for a while, or at least that's what father said, oh yes, and he also said that out new host is the container of my younger brother Kurama, the Kyuubi".

They stood for a moment, as Hashirama absorbed this information, before nodding to show that he understood. Asura smiled, "we are going to take the form of the age our current Transmigrant's are, so we will be around six or seven I think when we meet them, and we will be able to manifest outside both of them once we have made contact- we have to be careful- even with Indra and Madara on our side now, it isn't going to be easy" he said seriously. Hashirama nodded, "I understand, and I am grateful for this chance," he replied. The Otsutsuki nodded and turned to look forwards. Hashirama copied him, "let's end this once and for all!" he cried, as a bright white light engulfed the two most powerful Shinobi after Hagoromo Otsutsuki himself.

To Be Continued


	2. Chapter 1

Naruto didn't know Sasuke very well. If you asked him how he felt about the other boy, he would say that he was a decent person- or at least more tolerable than some of the other kids that he knew. The blond didn't know what drew him to Sasuke, as he definitely wasn't the most sociable of his peers. But when he sat next to the Uchiha during class, the boy didn't leave and go to another seat, and sometimes, during lunch when the two sat together and Sasuke saw that he didn't have any lunch of his own, the other boy would give him his own bento. When Naruto would push the offered food away, Sasuke would keep insisting until the Uzumaki ate at least a third of what was there. Sasuke would eat half of that then keep offering the blond the lunchbox until he gave in and finished the food off.

When it was all finished, Sasuke would take it and throw the rubbish away, then return and sit quietly next to Naruto until the bell rang, at which time the Uchiha would get up and silently go to class. When Naruto hesitated at the door, Sasuke would walk back and take the other boys hand, leading him inside quietly, and Naruto would follow without protest. He was definitely nicer than some of the other kids that went to the Academy with him. If the Uzumaki had to choose a word to describe their relationship, then Sasuke could be considered a particularly nice acquaintance. However all that changed one day after the Academy. Sasuke had been absent for a few days, which was strange, since the other boy was almost religious about school, and Naruto wondered what could have happened to him until he had heard some of the other kids whispering quite loudly to one another: "Hey, did you hear about the Uchiha Clan?" one boy asked his friend.

Naruto didn't usually care for gossip, since it was usually about him and not very nice either. However, upon hearing the name of Sasukes Clan in the conversation, the orange and dark blue wearing boy stopped and listened, "yeah," the other boy replied, "my dad said that they were all wiped out by their own Clan Heir- he said that Sasuke's the only one left". Naruto's eyes widened. Sasukes family had been killed? No wonder he had been absent from classes lately. As the blond walked back to his old apartment, he thought about whether or not he should pay Sasuke a visit in the hospital. Soon enough it began to rain. Naruto cursed under his breath and covered his head with his arms to try and shield himself from the storm while he began to run. It was as he was making his way past the Uchiha district, that he noticed something, or rather- someone. Sasuke was standing in front of the gate to the district that was sectioned off with yellow tape.

As Naruto watched, the boy lifted the tape and walked inside. Making a split second decision, the Uzumaki abandoned his plan to run home and began to run after Sasuke instead. As carefully as possible, Naruto climbed under the tape- albeit with a lot less grace than his classmate, and entered the Uchiha compound. The whole place was abandoned, and was as silent as a grave, the closest thing Naruto could describe it as, was ghost town. Looking ahead and straining his eyes, the blond could make out a faint moving figure enter the largest house in the area. Running quickly to catch up with the other boy as well as get out of the rain, Naruto followed where he'd seen Sasuke go into. Upon getting to the house, he saw that Sasuke had taken his shoes off at the entrance. After doing the same out of respect, Naruto entered the house and looked around.

Needless to say it was huge compared to what he was used to. Naruto almost thought that he should just go back home, forget this ever happened and leave before Sasuke found out that he was in his house and threw him out. But suddenly, over the beating of the rain on the wood of the roof, the Uzumaki heard a faint sound. It was Sasuke, crying. Naruto had never seen or heard the other boy cry before- it was a pitiful, broken sobbing, and Naruto immediately wanted to make it stop. It reminded him too much of the times he'd cried the same way, and he couldn't bear to hear Sasuke crying too. It almost physically hurt to hear the other boy do so. So Naruto followed the sound, walking through the empty hallways until he came to a partly open door. When he peeked inside the room, the blonds' eyes widened.

Sasuke was on the floor, curled up into a small ball of misery. His entire body was shaking as he moaned and sobbed. Without thinking about the consequences of his actions, Naruto quickly walked into the room and went over to Sasuke. Kneeling down, the Uzumaki curled his small body around the other boys, wrapping his arms around the other boy and holding him close. Naruto noticed the way the Uchiha's body stiffened at the contact, but he didn't mind. After another moment of silence, Sasuke peeked up at the person holding him. Seeing blond spiky hair, the tenseness that was present in the black-haired boy's body melted away and after another moment of hesitation Sasuke clung onto the other boy and began sobbing even more. Naruto just waited until his classmate's cries fell away to sniffles, and his body relaxed in his arms.

In that moment something strange happened. Bright white light exploded from everywhere at once making Naruto slam his eyes shut. Pain shot through his body, and he could tell by the way Sasuke was shaking again, that he felt the agony as well. The light expanded and brightened until it invaded Naruto's shut eyelids and engulfed the two boys completely.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Naruto blinked slowly. Everywhere around him was white. For a moment he was disorientated, he couldn't tell what was up, down, or any other way. There was no horizon, just blankness. "Naruto-Kun?" the Uzumaki whirled around, only to see two other boys the same age as him standing in front of him. The one standing on the left was a boy a little taller than he was. He had short brown hair that spiked wildly around his head, a thick wrapping of bandages tied around his forehead, with two bangs of hair framing his face, bound tightly by more bandage to keep it neat. He had almond shaped brown eyes and wore a white robe with a high collar with six black Magatama decorating down the chest area in a 'v' pattern. The brunette also had a black sash around his waist and two black straps that went over his shoulders like one would carry a pack and it was these that kept a sword tied to his back.

Naruto stared at the strange clothes the boy was wearing. He'd never seen clothes like them before. Soon enough the blonds eyes wondered up to the face of the boy. His face seemed genuinely kind, not like the type of people who would be falsely nice to him only to torture and torment him when his guard was down. Next his eyes moved over to the other boy. He also had brown hair, but it was long and looked surprisingly soft. He wore traditional red Shinobi armour- the kind that was made from multiple metal plates attached together and his underclothes were black. He also looked very kind and cheerful, a lot like Naruto himself. Even so, Naruto couldn't help but be wary of the two. "Naruto?" turning to his left, the Uzumaki saw Sasuke standing next to him and instantly relaxed. The Uchiha was standing with two other boys and all three of them looked extremely similar.

The one standing closest to Sasuke had short black spiky hair, and was staring at the long-haired boy in front of Naruto with something of a cross between a mild glare and a pout. He had black eyes and slightly paler skin than the others and he was wearing a blue high-collared, long sleeve mantle that split down the lower half and a simple, light-brown obi and a belt. Wrapped around his ankles were bandages and he wore simple sandals. Next to the first boy was a second one with long black hair that was cut short on top. Two locks of it were wrapped in bandages, and framed either side of his face. His eyebrows were cut short and his eyes had blue markings around them, which were turned up at the corners. He wore a high-collared, light-coloured kimono held closed by a dark sash. The collar of the kimono was adorned with Magatama. He wore a black full-body suit underneath.

His entire aura practically screamed: _I'm better than you, bow down to me_ , however his demeanor was very quiet and refined. While the boy's obvious pride showed clearly, there was also an underlying soft quality to his look. The blond boy looked back and forwards between the four unknown people and frowned. It was a look that many people knew as Naruto's 'serious look'. He didn't use it often, but when he did, everyone knew he wasn't playing around. Now, how, you may ask, could a simple frown convey that? well, it wasn't just the frown. It was that combined with the steely eyes, the set jaw and shoulders, and the way he leveled his face to look directly into the other person's eyes. "Alright, what's going on- I want answers, now if you don't mind?" the way he said it was a question, but the way he posed it was a statement.

The long brown-haired boy smiled slightly, "yes, of course, we'd be happy to answer your questions. But we should introduce ourselves first- ne?" he asked, beaming at the end. Naruto and Sasuke stared at the four other boys. The short brown-haired boy walked up to Naruto first, holding out his hand, "it's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Asura Otsutsuki" he said, with a bright smile. Naruto stared at Asura's hand, before, slowly, tentatively, taking it in his own and giving it a shake, "hello, I'm, Naruto Uzumaki" he replied shyly, blushing slightly. Most people kept their children away from him, so he didn't really know how to deal with one coming up so willingly and wanting to talk with him, even though Naruto could somehow tell that none of the four people in front of them were really children.

They felt too- old, too world weary. I mean, yes, maybe he and Sasuke looked the same, but even the two of them weren't as _mature_ looking as the others. The long brown-haired boy now walked up, "hello Naruto-Kun, my name is Hashirama Senju" he said with a bright smile. Naruto and Sasukes eyes widened in shock, "you mean Hashirama Senju as in the first Hokage?" the young Uchiha asked. Hashirama scratched the back of his head, "yep, that's me, he, he" he grinned at both actual children. One of the black-haired boys stepped up, "my name is Indra Otsutsuki, and I am Asura's older brother" he explained. The last boy stared impassively around, before looking at Naruto and Sasuke, "and I am Madara Uchiha, we were sent here to help both of you with an important mission".

Naruto's eyes lit up at the word 'mission'. He was still in the Academy, and he knew that only Shinobi got missions. "What is it?" he asked with childlike wonder and excitement. His enthusiasm caused all four to chuckle, "first you must understand how exactly we are connected- my father, the Sage of the Six Paths wanted nothing more than to bring peace to this world, and on his deathbed, he named me his successor," Asura explained, then looked sad, "however, this caused a chain of events that led to intense hatred between my brother and I as well as our families once they were born," Sasuke looked like he was soaking it all in, however, Naruto looked a little lost. Hashirama smiled, "don't worry about it Naruto-Kun, all you have to remember is that by choosing Asura as his successor, Sennin-Sama made Indra-San so angry with his brother that they fought over and over throughout the years, until they died and were reborn as the next in line" he explained.

Naruto thought for a moment, making sure he understood everything, before he nodded. "After we had been reincarnated as Hashirama and Madara and finally died again, both Indra and I were so sick of all the fighting, that we accepted an offer of our father's- which was to help the both of you, so you could end the cycle of hatred and bring true peace to this world- just like our father wanted" Asura told them. Both boys nodded in understanding. Sasuke turned to face Naruto and both boys walked up to each other. "So, bringing peace and saving the world, huh?" the Uchiha asked. Naruto grinned, "so, uh, brothers then?" he asked, unsure. Well, they were brothers once, why couldn't they be again? Besides, Naruto had always wanted a big brother. But upon hearing those words, Sasukes eyes went wide, his face became furious, and before he could stop himself, he'd already shouted: "NO!" with all his might.

This outburst shocked everyone into silence- even Madara and Indra were wide-eyed. Sasuke stood their shaking with barely controlled rage. Yes, maybe he'd snapped, and yes, maybe he was still unstable around that word- but could you blame the poor boy? Especially after what he'd just been through. "I don't want another brother," he said hoarsely, clenching his fists tightly, "my brother, is a murderer and a traitor- he lied to me, said he loved me, that he'd always be there for me," now Sasuke was panting raggedly, eyes reliving that horrible night, "but it was all a lie- he BETRAYED ME!" he screamed, tears beginning to stream down from his eyes, "why? Why did he do it? why did he say he loved me if he really hated me? Why did he have to torture me by making me watch him kill them? Why didn't he just KILL ME?!" the boy fell to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably, shaking and trembling, gripping his head, "why did he leave me alive? Why did he leave me to suffer?" he mumbled, curling up into another ball and trying to disappear.

Naruto stared with wide eyes at the other boy, now understanding at least a little of Sasuke's pain. Like he did in the real world, Naruto crouched down and curled himself around the sobbing Uchiha, wrapping his arms tightly around the other child. "Shhhh, it's okay- I understand, and I won't try to force you to be my brother if you don't want that Sasuke," he whispered to the shaking boy, "we don't have to be brothers, why don't we try for something else instead, huh?" he asked, as Sasuke finally calmed down. The black-haired boy rubbed the tears away from his eyes, and sat up again, giving a tiny smile of gratitude to Naruto, who returned it with a bright grin of his own. The two thought for a moment, everyone else staying silent as they did.

"Hmm, how about, just best friends then?" Naruto asked after a minute of thinking. Sasuke stared at him, then turned away slightly, "yeah, that should be fine, I guess" he replied, blushing slightly, as he'd never had a best friend before. The Uzumaki grinned and nodded, "best friends it is then!" he exclaimed happily. Both sets of previous Transmigrants smiled, "alright, well for now why don't we let you two get back to the real world so you can do what you need to do and go to bed for the night, after all you've both had a long day" Hashirama said. Before they could really question it, Naruto and Sasuke were once again blinded by piercing white light, and they closed their eyes.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

When Naruto and Sasuke opened their eyes again, they found themselves curled around each other on the floor in Sasuke's house. Both slowly stood up as they had no idea how long they had been kneeling on the ground for and they didn't want to risk falling over and hurting themselves. Once they had regained their balance, Sasuke led Naruto through the compound. Now that he wasn't so focused on finding Sasuke, the blond normally would have been looking around himself in excitement, however he was too tired and hungry to pay much attention to anything but Sasukes back. Once they were in the kitchen, then came the problem of making dinner, but Naruto knew how to cook noodles, Sasuke had been taught how to steam rice and make Stir-fry vegetables, so they combined their knowledge and that's what they made- Stir-fry vegetables and noodles with steamed rice.

The meal was a silent one and Sasuke was glad Naruto wasn't mentioning his emotional breakdowns, either in that other plain or in the other room. Naruto seemed to sense that his new best friend needed silence to gather his thoughts, and for that the Uchiha was grateful. After dinner, both used the bathroom to wash up and go to the toilet, before the two went into a spare bedroom in Sasukes house. After gathering two blankets and pillows, the two boys set them up on the floor of the room. As they lay in bed, Sasuke and Naruto stayed awake for a while, before they turned to each other, "we can do it Sasuke, I know we can" he whispered. The Uchiha nodded and closed his eyes, unable to keep them open any longer. Naruto sighed and gripped his new friend's hand, "we can and _will_ " he whispered, before he too closed his eyes and let exhaustion claim him.

After a moment, the images of child Indra, Asura, Madara and Hashirama appeared before the bed. "Aww, that's so sweet" Asura said, smiling at the touching scene before him. Madara sighed, "They've already been through so much, just like us" he said sadly, looking at Hashirama. The Senju nodded, eyes downcast, "yes, but at least they look like the children they are when they're asleep- instead of the miniature traumatized adults that we were and saw earlier" he said softly. They all nodded, and Asura looked at them, "we should let them sleep, they've been through a lot lately, and tomorrow's another big day" he told them. All four nodded, and returned to their own Transmigrants mindscapes.

To Be Continued


	3. Chapter 2

Sunlight shone down into a fairly large bedroom, onto the figures of two sleeping children. These two, both small boys were lying facing each other on a futon in a spare bedroom of the Uchiha Clan Compound. One boy had short bright blond spiky hair, splayed out like a halo around his head that shone in the morning light, and lightly tanned skin with three whisker marks on each of his cheeks. When his eyes were opened, you would see two orbs of beautiful ocean blue as his eyes. This boy was Naruto Uzumaki, the Transmigrant of Asura Otsutsuki and Hashirama Senju. The other boy had pale skin and delicate features, with dark black hair. When his eyes opened, you would be met with eyes of the darkest obsidian.

This was Sasuke Uchiha, the Transmigrant of Indra Otsutsuki, who was Asura's older brother and Madara Uchiha. Both boys had been through a lot, so their previous selves were discussing whether or not to wake them. "They're going to be late for the Academy if they don't get up in the next hour and a half Hashirama" Madara told his friend. The former Shodai' pouted at this, "seriously, it's an hour and a half away Madara, I doubt they'll be that late if we let them sleep for a few more minutes, they had a long day yesterday, and they should still be exhausted-" he argued back. Asura and Indra merely watched this argument quietly. If they wanted to, they could keep their voices from being heard by the two children, so they didn't have to listen to them all the time, or in this case, be woken by their argument. Both boys stared at their second lives and then looked at each other, "were we really like that before brother?" Asura asked. Before Indra could answer, they were interrupted by a groan behind them.

All four of them stopped what they were doing and turned to look at where the noise had come from. Sasuke had scrunched up his face and was shaking in his sleep. The boy panted harshly as he moaned again, "n-no," he whispered, face contorted with agony, "nn, no, I-Ita-hachi, stop, p-please" he said, moving onto his back and throwing his head to the other side, "b-brother, please stop- please!" the boy began to sob softly, "don't! please don't!- Itachi!" he gasped, eyes shooting open. They all watched with heavy hearts as Sasuke lay on the bed panting heavily, before looking to his side and staring at Naruto's peacefully sleeping face with wide, panicked eyes, his small body shaking and his chest heaving with the effort of getting air into his lungs. For a few moments Sasuke lay still, his eyes just staring at the blond, but not seeing him, and they could see glimpses of the horrors the child had witnessed as scenes of the massacre flashed through his eyes. Then the Uchiha seemed to have come back to reality, because his breathing slowed, his trembling lessened and he relaxed on the bed.

Sasuke sighed, looking up at the ceiling, "it was just a dream," he murmured to himself, " _he's_ not here, and I'm safe, I'm safe," he told himself firmly, "damn it, get a grip Sasuke" he scowled, before sitting up and gently untangling his hand from Naruto's. The boy decided to start getting ready, after all, he had enough time to.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Naruto slowly woke up. He'd been having such a nice dream. He'd dreamt that he and Sasuke had been the reincarnations or whatever of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha and the Sage of the Six Paths two sons and that they had become best friends so he wasn't alone anymore. But now it was time to wake up, and see the reality of his old, run-down and messy apartment. He sighed, and he could almost smell something heavenly. That imaginary dinner that he'd had last night with Sasuke had been just as good as this smelled. But why would he smell something like this if he was awake? Naruto opened his eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling. He blinked, this wasn't his crappy apartment! Before he had time to panic, a face appeared in front of his, "Naruto-Kun, it's time to get up!" the person said cheerfully.

Naruto, being Naruto and believing everything from the night before had only been a figment of his lonely mind, screamed in shock and shot backwards in the bed. Asura, startled at the sudden loud sound yelled as well, and floated backwards (as he didn't have to walk). Hashirama suddenly appeared, alerted by the screams, "what!? What's happened!?" he demanded. Then he noticed Naruto squinting at them, before the blond pointed at the both of them with a look of realization on his face, "ah! It's you two!" he said. Asura scowled, "of course it's us, who did you think it was?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. The blond smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with his hand, "sorry, I guess I thought yesterday was all a dream, meeting you guys, getting a best friend, and actually having a purpose- I didn't expect it to actually be real, heh heh" he explained.

Asura smiled, "that's okay Naruto-Kun, don't worry about it, but for now you'd better get up, have a bath, get dressed and have breakfast, you and Sasuke-Kun have got the Academy today, don't you?" he asked. Naruto suddenly shot to his feet, "ah, that's right, I completely forgot! What time is it?!" he asked, panicking because he didn't know if he was late or not. Hashirama moved in front of him, raising his hands in a placating manor, "whoa their Naruto-Kun, it's okay, you still have a whole hour to get ready, don't worry" he explained. Naruto calmed down, "oh, that's good then," he replied, sighing with relief. Looking around the room, Naruto saw some neatly folded clothes with a piece of paper on top of them. He walked over and picked up the paper and read it.

It was a note explaining where the bathroom and kitchen was from the spare room. Well, that was helpful. Naruto picked up the clothes and followed the note to where the bathroom was. Once inside he began getting undressed and placed his still damp clothes on the floor. He knew that if he were anyone else, he probably would have caught a cold from being out in the rain and not really drying off. But thankfully he didn't get sick for some reason. However, that didn't explain why Sasuke wasn't sick. The blond shrugged, he probably just had a strong immune system- and yes he knew what that was- he wasn't as much of an idiot as everyone thought. Once the bath was full of hot water, Naruto climbed in and immediately sighed in bliss, "oh, I'm in heaven" he said to himself as he lay his head back.

Back in his apartment, Naruto didn't have the luxury of hot water. The hot water system always seemed to be broken, and it cost an ungodly amount of money to fix. So he always had to make-due with cold water. So having a hot bath like this was a gift to be thankful for. After washing his body and hair with some of the soap and shampoo that was in the bathroom, the blond washed himself off and pulled the plug out. Soon after he was dried and getting into the dark blue Yukata-style shirt and pants. As he examined himself in the mirror, Naruto had to say they looked good on him. The boy picked up his damp clothes and placed them in the washing basket that was next to the wall with the door. Next he took the map he'd placed down when he'd had his bath and examined the directions to the kitchen. His stomach rumbled with hunger, causing both Asura and Hashirama to smile.

Naruto glared at them, "so I'm hungry, so what?" he snapped. "Oh, nothing" Hashirama replied innocently, looking away. The Uzumaki sighed and left the bathroom, walking through the halls of the Uchiha Clan Heads house. Looking around during the day really brought home just how big and empty the place was now that Sasuke was the only one living here. Well, Sasuke and maybe him as well? That was if he could get Hokage-Jiji to agree to let him stay. He didn't want his new and only best friend to have to be so lonely. As he finally found the kitchen, Naruto walked into the room to see Sasuke sitting and drinking something. He was fully dressed except for his shoes, and had a yellow book bag over his head and shoulder. Naruto smiled, "hey Sasuke" he said, walking into the room and sitting at the table.

Sasuke smiled slightly, "good morning," he replied softly. Indra and Madara appeared on either side of the boy, both floating above the ground. Hashirama grinned at his best friend, "Morning Madara!" he greeted cheerfully. Madara grunted, "hn, morning" he replied. The Shodai' rolled his eyes, before grinning again. Asura smiled, "good morning Indra-Nii-Sama!" he exclaimed happily. Indra tilted his head to the side in acknowledgement, "good morning Otouto" he replied in a smooth, almost monotone voice, but most of the people there could hear the one sliver of happiness that the Uchiha ancestor dared to use in his tone. Sasuke stood up and went to the kitchen, "I made rice and fried eggs- oh, another thing we're going to have to pick up is some cookbooks with easy recipes by the way" he explained, bringing a bowl and chopsticks into the dining room and placing the food down on the table, "you'd better hurry up and eat before it gets cold" Sasuke sat back down while Naruto walked over to his seat.

"Thanks Sasuke!" he replied cheerfully, as he broke apart his chopsticks, "itaidakimasu!" then he dug in. The two ate quickly, and put their dishes in the sink before they grabbed their bags and shoes. Stopping at the step before the door, the two boys sat down and pulled their shoes on. After Sasuke locked the house, the two boys started on their way to the Academy. As they walked, Naruto looked at the Uchiha and grinned, "hey Sasuke," he said. The Uchiha turned to face him, "yeah?" he asked curiously. The blond Uzumaki's grin widened, "wanna race?" he asked. Sasuke paused for a moment, then smirked, "alright, but I'm pretty fast you know", Naruto chuckled, "so am I". The two took starting positions, "3… 2… 1… GO!" Hashirama counted down, then gave the starting signal. The Uchiha and Uzumaki shot forwards, racing through the streets as black, white and blond blurs.

As they ran, Naruto began to pull ahead of his friend. Sasuke smirked slightly, before he jumped. Naruto looked back to see where the other boy was only to not see him anywhere. "Hey, Naruto!" the blond head whirled around to see Sasuke running and jumping across the rooftops. The black-haired boy smirked and waved. Naruto growled, "hey Teme, that's cheating you know!" he yelled as he sped up. Sasuke snickered, "we're Shinobi, we don't play fair!" he called back. Naruto jumped to the roofs as well, jumping along behind the Uchiha. Soon Sasuke had lost his friend. The black-haired boy snickered, _'lost him'_ he thought. Soon the Academy came into sight, _'yes, I'm gonna win!'_ he thought in triumph.

Suddenly a blond blur leaped through the air and landed on the ground right in front of the Academy building. Sasuke landed in front of the blond, who was Naruto, before he bent over resting his hands on his knees and panted harshly, "damn it Naruto!" he cried, glaring halfheartedly up at the other boy, "how the heck do you have so much stamina?" he asked, still trying to catch his breath. They hadn't learned how to use Chakra to constantly boost their muscles yet, so it couldn't be that. He was sure even Asura and Hashirama wouldn't have had time to teach that to the boy. Naruto shrugged, "I just do- wait, Asura says I got it from my Uzumaki heritage" he said simply, before walking up and holding out his hand to the black-haired boy, "you okay Sasuke?" he asked. Sasuke sighed and took the other boys hand.

Naruto helped him stand up straight, then offered him the water bottle from his bag. Sasuke shook his head and removed his own bottle from his bag and took a few mouthfuls of water. After he'd caught his breath and replaced his bottle, the Uchiha nodded towards the gate of the Academy, "let's get inside before we're even later" he suggested. Naruto nodded and the two walked into the Academy together, side by side.

To Be Continued


	4. Chapter 3

Sasuke and Naruto sat side-by-side in their Academy classroom. The two were writing in their notebooks and trying to ignore the questioning looks of the other students. They were all supposed to be copying notes from the board; however Naruto was finding it hard to concentrate. Asura and Hashirama had quickly learned that the boy was a kin-esthetic learner, so what they would do, is have Naruto imagine himself doing the things that were in the problems, and help him visualize them by explaining it a bit better to figure out the answers. This not only helped the boy learn, but Naruto himself found it fun to imagine himself throwing a kunai or shuriken or whatever the problem was about.

Time went by and soon the lesson was over and it was time for lunch. The children all hurried outside to eat and play with their friends. Naruto was no exception. He ran out excitedly, turning back to see Sasuke walking at a calmer pace behind him. "Come on Sasuke, hurry up, or we'll lose our spot!" he called, grinning ear-to-ear at the thought of being able to play with his best friend during lunchtime. Sasuke snorted, "I doubt anyone's going to take our spot from us usuratonkachi" he replied calmly. They walked over and sat down under a big tree in the yard. Naruto brought out the lunch that Sasuke had packed for him this morning and opened it. Rice, salted salmon, miniature sausages and lettuce. Looking over at Sasuke's lunch, Naruto saw that he had rice, mini-hamburg patties, sliced cucumber and Cherry Tomatoes for lunch.

"Hey, thanks for making lunch for me this morning Sasuke, I should learn how to as well, so we can take turns- same with dinner" Naruto said gratefully. He'd never had a Bento box before; he'd always just gone to Ichiraku's if he had enough money during lunchtime, so this was a new experience for him. "Hn, let's just eat before lunch is over" Sasuke replied, turning his head away to hide his faint blush- he was never good at accepting other people's gratitude. The two ate quietly, watching the wind rustle the leaves of the trees. Suddenly Naruto's keen ears picked up a commotion nearby. Getting up and walking over to where the noise was coming from, the Uzumaki peered around a corner and bristled at what he saw. Three older boys from a higher grade were standing around a small girl. He wanted to rush over their right that moment, but Hashirama stopped him.

 _"Wait Naruto-Kun, let's just see what happens first, after all, someone could come and stop them before we even have to do a thing"_ the former Hokage said. Naruto thought about it for a moment then nodded, "alright, but if things get too out of hand, I'm going over their" he whispered back. Then he stood and listened to what they were saying, "hey, look at her eyes, you're one of those Hyuuga, aren't ya?" one asked, "yeah, your cousin is in my class, and he's all stuck up" another replied. The third boy bent over the small girl, "I bet you're just like the rest of your Clan, a stuck up princess that thinks you're better than the rest of us" he sneered. The girl trembled, "n-no, I'm not like that!- Ah!" she tried to defend herself, but the main boy grabbed her head and roughly pushed her down to her hands and knees, "apologize for bumping into me and making me spill my food!" the main boy, who was fairly chubby demanded.

The girl trembled, "I'm sorry" she whimpered. The boy pushed her head down further, "what was that? say it louder!" "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she cried softly, beginning to sob. Naruto felt his rage take over, _'okay, that does it!'_ he thought, running out to where the boys and girl were, "hey, assholes! She said she was sorry, so just leave her alone already!" he demanded, glaring fiercely at the three. The boys turned to look at who was behind them, only to see a weak looking blond kid wearing a dark blue Yukata standing there. The main boy scowled, "get lost brat, we're busy" he said dismissively, as he turned back to the girl again. Naruto scowled at being ignored and the way they were treating the girl. He knew Hashirama and Asura had told him that it was better to avoid conflict as much as possible, but those assholes were just _asking_ for it!

Asura nodded, _"alright, do what you have to do- after all, there are some people that are just bullies, plain and simple, and need to be taught a lesson about picking on people weaker than them- besides, you'd be protecting someone by doing it Naruto-Kun"_ he agreed. Naruto again called out: "hey, instead of picking on a small girl who's not able to defend herself, why don't you try taking me on- unless you lot are too scared to try!" at that, two of the boys ran right at the blond. Naruto stood still and braced himself, _"wait, wait- now!"_ Hashirama instructed, just as one of the older boy's was about to land a punch on him. Naruto swiftly moved to the side and ducked under the second punch thrown by his friend. The blond ducked and weaved, occasionally deflecting a hit here or there.

Eventually the bullies began to get tired from overexerting themselves to try and beat Naruto up, while the Uzumaki's movements, as instructed by Asura had been swift and short to conserve his energy. Even though he had much larger Chakra reserves than most people, Hashirama had instructed the boy on the dangers of Chakra exhaustion and explained that it would be better in the long run to save as much energy as possible. The two boys who had been attacking the blond slowly slumped to the ground from exhaustion. The leader of the group, who had stood back next to Hinata to make sure the girl hadn't tried to run away glared at his friends, "you weaklings! You know he's the Deadlast of the Academy, right?!" he demanded, angry that they hadn't been able to beat the 'weakling' within two seconds.

Naruto glared, even though all three of these boys had been tormenting that girl, that didn't mean that he approved of the way this bastard treated his own friends. "Hey!" he called again, as he began walking over to him with purposeful steps, "I don't like people who abandon their friends whether they lose their supposed 'value' or at all" he said, face stormy, "people like you don't deserve to call yourselves Shinobi," he paused when he was face to face with the now sweating boy- he was releasing a lot of killing intent subconsciously because of his anger. Naruto leaned over close to the boy's ear, "now get out of my sight you scumbag, and take your friends with you" he whispered harshly. The kid took off running, while his 'friends' finally managed to pick themselves up off the ground and followed after their leader.

Naruto's eyes softened as he turned and walked back over to the still whimpering Hyuuga Heiress. He knelt down in front of her and studied the girl with slight worry in his eyes, "are you alright?" he asked gently, brushing some of the girl's hair behind her ear as she looked up at him with teary eyes, "y-yes, th-thank you" the girl sniffed. Naruto took a tissue out of his pocket and offered it to her, "it's no problem- I never liked people like that, especially when they pick on someone just for being themselves" he explained, as she wiped her eyes, "I'm sorry, I never introduced myself did I?" he asked, as he gave her his hand and helped her up as he stood, "my name is Naruto Uzumaki" he said with a beaming grin. The Hyuuga smiled shyly, tears now mostly dry, "I-I'm H-Hinata, H-Hyuuga" she replied, handing the blond back his tissue.

Naruto nodded, "Hinata" he said, testing the name out, before smiling again, "I like it- hey, Hinata-Chan, you wanna come have lunch with me and Sasuke?" he asked. The shy girl blushed, and nodded, "h-hai, N-Naruto-Kun" she replied. The two then headed back over to where Sasuke sat, looking around and wondering where Naruto went. When the Uchiha saw Naruto walking with Hinata, he scowled slightly, but managed to keep a straight face. "Who's this Naruto?" he asked the blond boy, who scratched the back of his head slightly. "This is Hinata Hyuuga, some boys were picking on her before I scared them off and I offered to let her sit with us since she still looked a little upset and I was worried those idiots would try something again if she went off on her own" he explained.

Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly, "that's okay right?" he asked with just the slightest hint of warning in his voice. Sasuke tilted his head to the side and studied Hinata silently for a moment. The shy girl shifted and moved slightly behind the blond, before Sasuke nodded in acceptance, "that's fine, Hinata, do you want to sit here?" he asked, moving over slightly, so the girl could sit on his other side in the shade of the tree. "H-hai, th-thank you S-Sasuke-San" she replied nervously, moving to sit in the offered spot, before taking her lunch out of her bag. The three ate quietly together for the rest of the lunch break.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

When class resumed, the teacher took them outside for Shuriken target practice. Unfortunately, this wasn't something his past selves could really help Naruto with, and he ended up missing the target four times out of five. The only Shuriken that did hit the target wasn't thrown with enough force to stay on the board, and fell out after only a minute. One boy laughed, "hey, look at the Dobe, he can't even throw a Shuriken properly!" he taunted and laughed. Soon everyone was laughing at the blond, well, everyone except for Sasuke and Hinata. Naruto stared at the ground and flushed with shame. Why could he never do anything right? Sasuke saw Naruto trembling with his fists and teeth clenched and decided he'd had enough.

"Hey, cut it out, all of you!" he yelled, stepping in front of the blond as though to shield him from the other kids judging eyes. Everyone had gone silent after that and no one dared to speak a word, "so what if he doesn't have good aim? You'd be bad at stuff too if you were an orphan with no one to teach you!" he cried, looking from one side of the crowd to the other. Naruto peeked up through his fringe, shocked that Sasuke was actually standing up for him. "Naruto is _my_ friend and just because he doesn't know much now, that doesn't give you the right to laugh at him! I mean what kid _does_ know all this stuff if they come from a civilian background, let alone if they have _no one_ to learn from at all! Naruto will be a great Shinobi one day, and if any of you want to mock my friend's abilities, then you'll have to go through me first!" he cried, glaring at everyone and daring them to even try it.

Naruto was shocked beyond belief. Sasuke had stood up for him. He couldn't believe it, he'd known that they were friends now, but he'd thought that the other boy was the type to let people fight their own battles, not stand up for others. Hearing Sasuke say all of that about him and seeing that he really was willing to fight anyone who mocked him made a warm feeling spread through his chest. He was _really_ happy. Sasuke believed in him! He really did! Naruto was so happy right now, he almost wanted to cry out of pure joy, but he held it back as everyone silently went back to their own target practice. Hinata silently padded up to the two boys, as Sasuke turned to look at his friend, "you okay?" he asked quietly. Naruto nodded and dried his eyes, "did you really mean all that Sasuke, about me being a strong Shinobi one day and- everything?" he asked. The Uchiha nodded, "I do Naruto, I know you'll be strong one day, maybe not as strong as me, but stronger than everyone else" he teased with a grin.

The Uzumaki pouted, "Teme, I _will_ become stronger than you, and I'll start by beating you at Shuriken target practice!" he exclaimed, but with a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. Sasuke caught this and his own eyes gleamed, "oh, will you? Well you have a long way to go then usuratonkachi" he teased. Naruto grinned, and pointed a finger at the other boy, "that's it let's go right now!" he cried. Sasuke snorted but tilted his head in acceptance, "alright then, you're on" he replied, both getting into position to begin throwing their weapons, when a small noise caught their attention. Both boys turned at once to see Hinata still standing there, poking her fingers together awkwardly and staring at the ground, "um- d-do you mind if I join you?" she asked timidly, peeking up through her fringe in a similar manner to how Naruto had done earlier.

The blond grinned, "sure Hinata-Chan, of course you can join us, but you may want to stand a little way away, I've got a feeling that this'll get pretty heated" he replied. Hinata nodded and stood in front of a target that was one away from the two boys. There were plenty of spare ones because after Sasuke's outburst, everyone had moved to the other end of the field from them. The group of now three friends laughed as they practiced together all afternoon.

To Be Continued


	5. Chapter 4

It had been one week since Naruto and Sasuke had discovered the truth about their pasts and met their former incarnations. Naruto sat in his Bedroom in the Uchiha Compound, while he listened to Asura tell him stories of his past. It soon became clear that Naruto adored Asura and Indra's father, the Sage of the Six Paths, and often asked the other 'boy' what it was like to be the son of such a man, what his father was like and what type of things he'd done in his life. The younger Otsutsuki was all too happy to talk about his father, as he'd loved the man dearly in life and admired him the most out of anyone except for his older brother Indra.

Hashirama, too, was interested in the stories, wanting to learn all about the man who'd had his old title, the 'God Of Shinobi' originally. Both listened with wonder as Asura told them tales of the adventures his father had had and told him and his brother about when they were children. It seemed that when the topic interested him enough, like the Sage Of The Six Paths, or Hashirama's life, Naruto was very keen to learn about history. The former Shodai' had been upset to learn some disheartening things during yesterday's history lesson at the Academy. It was about him, but he'd been confused when the Sensei had said that he'd only had one younger brother.

When Naruto had put his hand up and explained that Hashirama had actually had three younger brothers, after he'd heard the Senju mutter it, the teacher had ignored him. Naruto saw that the young looking Senju was becoming upset, and so he'd spoken up without being called: "um, excuse me Sensei, but the Shodai' actually had three younger brothers, but two of them were unfortunately killed during the Warring States Era" he explained again. It was then that the teacher had scolded him right in front of everyone, saying: "idiot, of course he didn't- the First Hokage had only one younger brother, Tobirama Senju, the one who would take his place as the Second Hokage- you _obviously_ don't know anything about history, so keep your mouth shut Uzumaki before I throw you out of the room for disrupting my class!" he snapped.

Naruto looked offended, while Hashirama looked even more depressed at the fact that no one even remembered his precious baby brothers Kawarama and Itama when they were just as important as Tobirama! Even though they had been young when they died and hadn't become S-ranked Shinobi like himself, Madara and Tobirama, that was no reason to exclude them from history! They were his brothers, his family- they were the most precious people in the world to him alongside Tobi, and no one even acknowledged their sacrifices! Hell, they didn't even acknowledge their _existence!_ It was painful for the for man to hear the Sensei outright _deny_ his baby brothers lives, and while he did feel guilty that Naruto had gotten yelled at for trying to make him feel better, it was slightly comforting to know that the blond had cared enough to try and get others to acknowledge Itama and Kawarama.

He'd made sure to thank Naruto as soon as things had settled. The Uzumaki had smiled and told him that he was happy to do it, and asked him what his brothers had been like, as he'd never had siblings before. That was what had gotten them onto telling stories to the excited blond boy about both their pasts and the people they'd known. And today, Naruto was being told all the stories he wanted by his two previous Transmigrants. Asura was happy someone wanted to learn about his father, he had been sad to find that virtually no one remembered the man, even if he had been the one who had given them all Chakra and saved them from destruction- the Sage had by now fallen into myth and legend, and it was disheartening for both brothers actually to find out the populace of the world didn't even know the name Hagoromo Otsutsuki.

However Naruto was the exception. He actually cared about history, and while he gravitated more towards the stories told by his own past Transmigrants, he was also interested in hearing about Indra's side of things and his past as well, as well as enjoying Madara's tales too. Right now, the blond was listening to Asura's stories, "and then we got in trouble from father for wreaking the garden, however it was worth it to see the look of horror on Indra's face when he realized he was getting punished too!" he said and burst into laughter. Naruto laughed as well, the younger Otsutsuki sure knew how to tell a funny story.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Naruto stood up and went over to it. Upon opening the door, he saw Sasuke standing there. The blond grinned, "hey, what's up?" he asked. "I'm going out to get more food as well as new clothes for you, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me?" he asked. Naruto smiled, but it was slightly strained, "no thanks Sasuke, just make sure you get the Uzumaki symbol put on my clothes and that they have orange somewhere on them, and maybe get _some_ Ramen, please!" he begged. Ever since Naruto had moved in, and Sasuke had discovered that the blonds' diet consisted mostly of instant and fresh Ramen, the Uchiha had limited his Ramen intake to two bowls of Ichiraku Ramen per day or one cup of Instant Ramen- he let Naruto have more of Ichiraku's Ramen, because old man Teuchi made his Ramen fresh, and it wasn't filled with all the crap that was in the instant stuff.

However, he'd still managed to replace most of his friend's diet with home cooked meals from the cookbook he'd bought along with more food. However Sasuke still hadn't had time to go clothes shopping yet. So today he was going to buy more groceries for the two of them and clothes for Naruto. Upon moving the Uzumaki's stuff into his Clan compound, Sasuke had gone through the other boys clothes, and immediately discarded most of them as either too small, too disgusting (ie. mouldy) or just plain disturbing to wear in public, or at all. So now Naruto had a small amount of clothing to wear: a black shirt with a red swirl-like symbol on the front and white shorts, a white shirt with short sleeves and the Uzumaki Clan crest on the front with a green long-sleeved undershirt sown into the inside with grey shorts, a white short sleeved shirt with the fire symbol on the front as well as on the sides of both sleeves with black three-quarter length pants, that were actually long on him.

And the last outfit he had was a short-sleeved dark blue shirt with a sleeveless orange hooded jacket over the top, a pair of dark green pants, and two black wristbands. Since he only had four outfits to wear, Sasuke had decided he needed a bigger wardrobe, as Naruto often ended up getting his clothing dirty on a daily basis. So now Sasuke was going shopping, since shop owners didn't seem to like the blond Uzumaki for some reason. The way the villagers treated his friend made Sasuke seethe inside, but he'd promised Naruto that he wouldn't resort to violence against them, as that would only make the civilians want to retaliate against them, and the blond wouldn't drag his best friend into that mess. After Asura had finished his story, Naruto began to feel board as he waited for Sasuke to get back. He looked around. The Uchiha Compound was huge, and he hadn't truly explored all of it yet.

So he stood up and stretched before he took off for some exploring.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

(In the chambers of the Shinobi and civilian council)

A clamor of voices could be heard within the council room. Hiruzen Sarutobi resisted the urge to massage his temples, even though he could feel a headache brewing there. It had recently come to light that Naruto Uzumaki, Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi and son of both Minato Namikaze, the now deceased Yondamine Hokage and his also deceased wife, who was quite possibly the last member of the Uzumaki Clan (well, formerly and last known member) Kushina Uzumaki, was currently living with the "Last Uchiha" Sasuke in his Clan Compound. Now while Hiruzen, and many members of the Shinobi council had absolutely no issues with this what-so-ever, in fact they believed it was good for both boys to have a friend and some company to live with, the (idiotic) civilian council did.

"That demon must be stopped before it corrupts Uchiha-Sama anymore!" one man yelled. Another woman stood up, "yes, it's obvious that the monster tricked Uchiha-Sama into letting it into his home! We must kill it at once!" she screamed. The Sandamine had finally had enough. This meeting had been going on for four hours now, ever since the Civilians had discovered this piece of news. "Silence, all of you!" he exclaimed, standing up and radiating some KI to shut the stupid people up, "Naruto Uzumaki is no demon, and if you all remember, I made a law about mentioning the Kyuubi seven years ago, so unless you all want to die for breaking it, I suggest that you all shut up!" he yelled, truly having enough of his peoples close-mindedness. Everyone was silent, "Naruto-Kun is _no_ demon, and if he has made friends, then that is a _good thing_ " he said slowly, as though talking to children, and really, with how stupid these people were, he basically was.

"In case you've forgotten, Naruto has always been an orphan, and now Sasuke-Kun is as well. If both boys have found a friend in one another and can help each other out of their loneliness, I see no reason to split them up- besides, with you all so worried about the Kyuubi, this is also a good thing- having a friend will keep Naruto-Kun from spiraling into hatred and destroying the village- though I sometimes wonder why he hasn't already what with you people messing up his life, and with Naruto-Kun around, Sasuke-Kun will have more reason to stay in the village and Naruto can keep him off the path of madness that revenge often brings with it- therefore, none of you have any right to complain," the old Hokage leaned back in his seat, "I don't want to hear anymore about this, and I expect you all to leave those two boys alone, dismissed!" he ordered.

The civilian council all walked out of the room with pissed off looks on their faces; some even turned back to shoot a glare at the Sandamine, but left the council chambers without a word. Hiruzen sighed sadly to himself as he stood from his seat. Sometimes being Hokage was more trouble than it was worth, especially with the civilian council breathing down his neck. He also knew that he would have to call both Naruto and Sasuke into his office to have a talk about the fact that they were now living together. When he'd first found out that his surrogate Grandson was no longer living in his apartment one week ago, he'd initially panicked, and had immediately used his crystal ball to locate the small blond-haired child. Imagine his surprise when he'd seen Naruto walking together with another boy his age. The identity had other child made him gasp slightly.

It was Sasuke Uchiha, another young boy who'd suffered a great loss, when his old rival Danzo had gone behind his back and ordered the heir of the Uchiha Clan and one of his best Shinobi Itachi Uchiha- who also happened to be young Sasuke's older brother, to massacre his entire Clan, bar Sasuke. He had done it and had left the village after begging Sarutobi to protect Sasuke. The old Hokage had agreed, but had been extremely sad to see the broken look in the poor boys eyes when he woke up in hospital days after. He felt like he'd failed both boys initially, but when he'd found out about the friendship they seemed to have formed right after Sasuke left the hospital, he felt like their might be a possibility for redemption if only he could protect their friendship. When he was a boy and Hashirama-Sensei had still been alive, the man had told him stories about the friendship he'd once shared with Madara when the two had been children.

Now looking at Naruto and Sasuke, he couldn't help but feel that this was what the Shodaimine and Madara would have been like when they were children, if their Clan's hadn't been enemies and he was determined that the two boys remain together so that they could heal as much as possible. If nothing else, at least he could protect those two from suffering the same fate that his Sensei and his old friend had. Sarutobi decided to call the two boys to his office so that he could ask them about their friendship and also make sure Naruto knew that if he'd wanted to move in with his new friend, the least he could have done was ask him first. He pulsed his Chakra slightly. Two masked ANBU appeared in the corner of the room.

"Hokage-Sama!" they coursed. Hiruzen looked at the both of them, "Inu, Tora, I want you to find Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha and bring them to my office" he ordered. Both nodded, "hai!" and then they vanished in a soundless, smokeless Shushin.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Naruto was wandering Sasuke's house. When he'd rediscovered the other boy's parent's bedroom, he'd closed the door quietly and gone on his way, not wanting to disturb it. As he walked he hummed to himself. Then he came to another room. Upon opening the door, he found a meticulously clean and neat room, except for the fine layer of dust that had settled over everything. Naruto slowly entered the bedroom and looked around. There were hardly any sentimental or personal items in the bedroom, so that he was unsure whose it was for a few minutes.

 _"Hey, look"_ Hashirama pointed at something behind him. Naruto turned and walked over to the bedside table that the former Hokage had indicated. Sitting on the table was a single picture frame, but the glass was so dusty that he couldn't quite make out who was in the photo. After rubbing some of the dust away with his hand, the blonds' eyes widened at what he saw. It was photo of a much happier but not much younger Sasuke. The boy was beaming at the camera, eyes sparkling with trust and innocence as he stood next to an older boy. As Naruto's eyes moved over to the other person in the picture, he saw it was a boy around Thirteen years old, dressed in dark clothes with his long black hair bound in a low ponytail. The teenager had dark grey eyes and was smiling softly as he stood beside Sasuke. Naruto suddenly understood. This must have been Sasuke's older brother, the one who betrayed him and killed his Clan.

The one person Sasuke had trusted and loved most in the world- it was strange, the boy didn't look like a psychotic killer, but he reminded himself that in the Shinobi world, looks could be deceiving. Judging by how happy the Uchiha boy looked in this picture, he must have been extremely close to his brother, and if that was true, then it was no wonder Sasuke had been so adamant about not wanting another brother. His own brother's betrayal must have crushed the poor boy inside and it made Naruto wonder just how the Uchiha could trust anyone else again. Suddenly, there was a sound behind him and Naruto startled, sure that Sasuke had found him in what was obviously a private place, judging by how long the room had been closed off, and he turned around guiltily, an apology forming in his mind.

However, that train of thought died the instant he caught sight of who it was. "Inu-Nii-San" he beamed at the dog masked ANBU, walking up to the man, "I haven't seen you for a while" Naruto said. The man bowed his head slightly, "gomen Naruto-Kun, but we don't have time for small talk today I'm afraid" he replied. Naruto nodded, and gently replaced the photo exactly where he'd found it. Thankfully the silver-haired Shinobi didn't ask what he was doing and simply took hold of the boy's shoulder. There was a dizzying flash of movement, and the two were gone.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Sasuke had just finished his food shopping and was walking home, when a masked figure suddenly appeared before him. The Uchiha tensed for a moment, before relaxing when he saw it was just one of the Hokage's ANBU. You may wonder how the boy knew about ANBU, when he hadn't had guards 24 hours a day, 7 days a week since he was a baby like Naruto. But don't forget that before he went insane, Itachi had been an ANBU Captain. Sasuke tilted his head slightly in greeting, "is there something wrong-" he paused, not knowing the operatives code name. The man seemed to understand this, "I am Tora, Sasuke-San, and Hokage-Sama has requested yours and Naruto-San's presence for a meeting- I was sent to fetch you" he explained quietly.

Sasuke nodded, and Tora took hold of his shoulder. They were gone an instant later.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Both ANBU appeared in front of the council chamber doors with the two boys in tow. Naruto grinned and waved, "hey Sasuke, looks like you were summoned too, huh?" he asked the other boy cheerfully. Sasuke nodded, and turned his gaze to the doors before them. Indra, Madara, Asura and Hashirama, who had mostly been quiet this whole time, gazed up at the huge doors in wonder, _"man, my council chambers were never_ _ **that**_ _big"_ Hashirama half breathed, half whined. Madara scoffed, _"oh stop whining you big baby, the village was barley built at all back then"_ he replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

Inu then went and knocked on the doors. He must have sent some kind of signal, probably with his Chakra, because the Sandamine's voice called out: "enter". The two ANBU pushed the doors open and gestured for the two boys to walk ahead of them into the room. They did so and were greeted to the sight of many people they didn't know, and one they both did. Naruto grinned and waved, "hey Hokage-Jiji!" he said. The old man chuckled, while most of the people in the room glared at the boy, who just ignored them- unfortunately, the Civilian Council had somehow found out that Hiruzen had called the boys and had come back and practically demanded another meeting, this time involving the boys. Sasuke, ever the one to take their priorities into concern, looked at the old man as well, "Hokage-Sama, why did you need us for this meeting?" he asked in a monotone. Hiruzen placed his fingers together and rested his head on his hands, "yes, well, you see boys, it has come to our attention that the two of you have been living together for some time now" he said lazily- he really wanted this meeting to be over as soon as possible.

Naruto nodded, "yeah that's right, Sasuke invited me to come live with him, since neither of us like living alone" he explained simply. One civilian council member glared, "you _sure_ that's what happened, _boy_?" he sneered. Naruto nodded, "that's right" he replied. One woman slammed her hands on the table in protest, "why would Uchiha-Sama want _someone_ like _you_ living in his house?! You must have tricked him somehow, you worthless brat!" she cried. Before anyone had a chance to speak, another woman, the same one from earlier spoke up: "I agree, that demon must be killed now!" she screamed. Sasuke instantly became enraged at this, activating his Sharingan and pulling a kunai knife out of the Tora ANBU's holster. In less than a minute, the boy had leapt onto the tabletop and crossed the distance between him and the bitch.

No one really caught what happened next, but one minute the boy was running towards the woman in a murderous rage and the next, he stood poised before the her on the table, the tip of the kunai a mere inch away from piercing her jugular, furious Sharingan eyes locked onto the terrified councillor's own. If the woman so much as gulped, the kunai knife would pierce her throat and end her life. A drop of sweat trickled down her neck and fell onto the tip. Everyone looked at what, or who had stopped Sasuke's murderous assault. Naruto was standing behind Sasuke, one arm wrapped around the Uchiha's chest, and the other hand clasped firmly in an iron like grip around the forearm that was holding the kunai, keeping the boy from moving that last inch. Everyone blinked, none of them had even seen the blond move.

Sasuke snarled, glaring at the worthless woman his weapon was just an inch from ridding the world of, "Sasuke, calm down, killing this woman won't do any good" Naruto whispered in his friend's ear. The Uchiha scowled, "why would you bother to save the life of a piece of trash like this, if she could you know that she would order your execution!?" he demanded in a whisper, angry that his friend was stopping him from killing one of the people who had made his life hell. Naruto's eyes saddened slightly, "yes it's true that these people do hate me, but killing them out of revenge isn't going to do any good. Not only would it prove to them that I am the monster they see me as, but that would do nothing but create more hate, and that wouldn't do anything towards our goals- besides, I want to prove to them that I am me, and that they can trust me to protect them- please Sasuke, just stop" he pleaded.

Sasuke thought Naruto's words through, before he sighed and his Sharingan faded from his eyes. He lowered the kunai he held and looked down, "fine Naruto, have it your way, but if they ever do anything to hurt you or purposely cause you trouble again-" the Uchiha glared at all of them, and somehow it was only a little less intimidating than the same look with his Sharingan, "nothing will persuade me from killing them" he stated darkly. The entire room, aside from the Shinobi shivered. Sasuke got off the table, Naruto following a second after and the two walked back to the other side of the table, where Sasuke handed Tora back his kunai. Naruto turned back to the still speechless civilians and smiled sheepishly, while rubbing the back of his head, "ah, sorry about that everyone, he, he, he" he said. The Sandamine chuckled slightly, "well Councilmen and women, it looks like Naruto really can keep Sasuke from the wrong path, therefore I have decided that they shall be able to live in the Uchiha Compound together, dismissed!" he ordered.

Naruto and Sasuke walked out of the room after the old Hokage, ignoring the glares that were sent Naruto's way. After the Uzumaki had said goodbye to the Third, the two boys began to walk home. Hiruzen smiled, _'yes, I believe the two of you will do great things in this world, Naruto-Kun, Sasuke-Kun, and I hope you both end up happy'_ he thought, before turning and beginning to walk back to his office.

To Be Continued


	6. Chapter 5

Naruto and Sasuke walked through the village together, both returning to the Uchiha compound. Man, that council meeting had just been one big energy drainer. Right now they just wanted to rest and maybe do some light training later on. Sasuke didn't miss the glares the majority of the villagers were sending Naruto's way, and proceeded to glare right back, daring anyone to come close. They soon arrived back at the Uchiha compound. Naruto kicked off his shoes without bothering to straighten them and just about stumbled towards the bedroom he shared with Sasuke. In fact he did stumble and almost fell, however Sasuke managed to catch him just before he hit the ground.

The 'last Uchiha' picked up his friend and sighed, _'looks like everything that happened today exhausted you more than we thought, huh Naruto?'_ he thought, carrying the blond into the room they shared. He wondered if Naruto would like his own bedroom soon, and decided to help him choose one after he woke up. As he lay the other boy down in the bed and covered him with the blankets, a thought suddenly came to him. Would his parents have let the two of them be friends? Would they even have become friends if the Massacre had never happened and the two never found out about their previous lives? Sasuke didn't know, but, despite how painful losing his parents had been and how even more painful Itachi's betrayal had been, he knew that he wouldn't give his best friend up for anything. Thinking about best friends and Itachi, made the young Uchiha remember his brother's words from before he'd left him that night:

 _*Flashback*_

 _Sasuke stood before Itachi in the silent Uchiha district. Dead bodies of his Clansmen littered the street's all around them. His brother's cold eyes bored into Sasuke's mind, as he stood and trembled in terror. This wasn't his big brother. This was a_ _ **monster**_ _. Sasuke breathed harder, as tears poured from his eyes- he was so scared! "p-please! Don't kill me!" the boy begged. Itachi stared impassively at his little brother, "you're not even worth killing, foolish little brother," Sasuke choked on a sob slightly, breathing heavily from fear._

 _"If you wish to kill me one day, foster your hatred and despise me- surviving in an unsightly manor such as this- by all means flee, cling to your wretched life, and when you possess the same eyes that I do, come back and kill me- however, there is a catch," Itachi closed his eyes for a moment before he opened them again, his greyish eyes bleeding into blood red while his pupils morphed into a shuriken-like pinwheel shape, "take the life of your best friend- you must kill him!" he said, while the wind blew around harshly, whipping their hair into a frenzy and blowing leaves through the air. Sasuke choked with horror, eyes wide. What?_ _ **That**_ _was what his father had meant by_ _ **special circumstances**_ _? That was- that was- monstrous, despicable, he would never kill Naruto! Wait, Naruto? Since when was that boy his best friend? No, that didn't matter! All that did matter was that he would kill himself before harming the blond to gain power like some kind of insane madman! Like Itachi! Wait, that meant-_

 _"You- you killed Shisui" he gasped, the truth smacking him in the face. His entire body began shaking again. Everything that had happened began swirling inside his head, he felt sick- like he was going to keel over at any minute. All it took was one look into Itachi's Sharingan, and the boy fell to the ground in a dead faint._

 _*End Flashback*_

Sasuke slumped forwards, panting and gasping for air, his entire body trembling harshly, and sweat dripping down his face. The boy's vision began swimming and fading in and out again. The arm that he was using to hold himself up was trembling as well, the feeling slowly seeping out of it. His eyes, which had changed to the Sharingan sometime during his reminiscing, began to burn. He looked up at Naruto's face, peaceful as he slept. Itachi's voice rang in his head again, echoing around in his mind, _'when you possess the same eyes that I do, come back and kill me- however, there is a catch- take the life of your best friend- you must kill him!'_ Without even being aware of what he was doing, the Uchiha's hand had begun creeping towards Naruto's throat.

Some part of his mind was screaming: _'stop! Stop! I won't do it! I won't!'_ but that part was drowned out by the voice of his older brother, commanding, so strong that his own will was being overridden. _'No! No, I won't! I refuse'_ he couldn't stop, he wasn't strong enough to do it, he only had one choice now, _'help!'_ he screamed out in his mind, hoping, praying to be heard, _'I don't want to, I won't do it!'_ The child's hand was now resting on the Uzumaki's throat, pale fingers tightening- _'please I beg you make me stop!'_ Suddenly Indra was before the boy, and his own Sharingan eyes were boring into his current transmigrants, _"release!"_ he ordered, and the black-haired boy felt something shatter in his mind. Sasuke collapsed to the floor, quivering. Soon he began sobbing, then screaming and beating the ground with his fists. The racket woke Naruto, who looked around confusedly, before his eyes rested on the broken form of Sasuke, lying on the ground before him.

The blond shot up and over to the Uchiha, wrapping his arms around the boy, and keeping him from collapsing again. Sasuke continued to scream for a few minutes, while Naruto just held him gently. Soon the screams turned into shattered sobs once more, before finally fading into quiet sniffles again. Once the other boy was stable enough to talk, the Uzumaki leaned back, but Sasuke held tight to his hand, indicating that he needed the physical contact right now. Naruto looked worriedly at the boy he had come to call his best friend, "are you feeling better?" he whispered, because it was obvious Sasuke wasn't alright. The black-haired boy shivered, then nodded. Naruto frowned deeply, "what happened?" he asked, still with a soft voice. However Sasuke shook his head and tried to speak, but no sound would come out. He swallowed and tried again, "I-I don't know what happened, one minute I'm sitting next to you, watching you rest, the next, my mind goes back to the massacre and I can hear I-Itachi's voice in my head, t-telling me to kill you *sob* I-I tried to fight it, but, it was so strong- I don't even know what that was!" Sasuke sobbed, clutching onto Naruto with all his strength.

"I think we may know what happened" both boys turned around, to see Indra and Madara floating next to Sasuke. Madara looked down slightly, "I knew it was possible, but I had never seen it done or done it myself before," he started, face twisting with shame. Naruto, Sasuke, Asura and Hashirama all stared at the two with slightly horrified curiosity. Indra then took over, "we believe that when Itachi placed you under Tsukuyomi, he also placed a hypnosis Genjutsu in your mind, so that if the time ever came that you actually did make a best friend, the Genjutsu would take effect, and make you kill that person, thus forcing you to awaken-" he explained, but was cut off by the trembling voice of Sasuke, "the Mangekyo Sharingan" he whispered. Madara nodded, "that's basically it Sasuke" he replied. Sasuke looked down at his hands- the hands that had almost murdered Naruto. He began shaking again, and tears streamed down from his face.

"Why?" he asked. Naruto frowned, "he told me he hated me, but did he really hate me _that_ much that he would actually _make_ me kill my best friend if I ever made one? Did he really want me to suffer so much that he would place a Genjutsu in my mind that would literally _force_ me to kill the only person I had left, even if I didn't want to?" the boy sobbed uncontrollably, "why damn it?! why me?! Why the hell did he have to do this?! What the hell happened to my big brother to change him into a **monster** like that?!" Sasuke began screaming again, trying to release all the anger, betrayal, pain and guilt as well as a bunch of other emotions that he couldn't name that were tormenting and twisting him up inside.

Naruto only watched silently as the other boy cried and screamed. It wasn't right for Sasuke to have to suffer like this, it really wasn't. Despite his near-death by his best friends hands, he couldn't help but feel glad that they found each other when they did, Naruto could imagine the alternate scenario, and he didn't like it one bit. Slowly, Sasuke calmed down, falling onto the bed, his light breathing indicating that he had fallen asleep. _"Poor boy, he wore himself out"_ Hashirama said. Naruto nodded then lay down next to the other boy and pulled the blanket up over them, _'don't worry Sasuke,'_ he thought, watching the black-haired boys exhausted face, _'I promise I'll help you'_ slowly, Naruto closed his eyes and fell into a deep dreamless sleep alongside his friend.

To Be Continued


	7. Chapter 6

The next day the two boys woke up around the same time, surprisingly. It was a day off from the Academy, and they'd woken up rather late in the day actually, but that was to be expected, what with the exhausting day they'd had yesterday. Sasuke sat up and yawned, while Naruto stretched like a cat. The blond then yawned and rubbed his eyes, being the more tired of the two. Sasuke looked at the boy, then stood up, "you can have a bath first to wake up Naruto, I'll start making breakfast, okay?" he asked. Naruto nodded and crawled out of bed, searching around for a clean set of clothing.

Today he decided to wear his white short sleeved shirt with the fire symbol on the front as well as on the sides of both sleeves with black three-quarter length pants. As he took the clothes to the bathroom, Naruto hummed to himself. It was a song he had made up- he called it Shooting Star. Once he got to the bathroom, the blond made quick work of washing himself and his hair before relaxing for a couple of minutes in the hot water. Once he stepped out of the bathtub again, Naruto felt much more refreshed and awake. After drying himself and getting dressed, the boy happily walked out of the room and into the kitchen, where Sasuke was making breakfast. "I'm done Sasuke, you can go have a bath now" he said.

Sasuke nodded and left the kitchen after letting Naruto know that his breakfast was on the table. Once the two boys had done their morning routine, they decided to go to the park to relax- after all, they could train later. So the Uzumaki and Uchiha walked quietly to the park. Upon noticing his friend's subdued attitude, Sasuke asked the blond what was wrong, "oh, it's nothing really- except, well-" Naruto looked down and blushed, twisting the hem of his shirt with his hands, obviously uneasy about something. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the other boy's behavior. Naruto was never this reluctant to talk about things, especially with him, so there was defiantly something wrong. "What is it?" he asked curiously, wanting to know what would make the Uzumaki so withdrawn.

Naruto sighed, "it's just that, tomorrow is my 7th Birthday, and- ah- the villagers tend to get a bit more, _outgoing_ with their hatred of me, on that day" he explained nervously, rubbing his left arm with his hand, "so it might be better if you stayed away from me all day, in fact I should probably go back to my old apartment, so that they don't wreck your house by accident or something" he finished, looking down at the ground. Everyone was silent and staring at the blond with wide eyes. Sasuke had stopped and was standing a few steps ahead of the boy, looking back at him with shock written all over his face. He quickly walked back over to Naruto and took him gently by the shoulders. Naruto flinched slightly at the contact but kept his gaze on the ground. "They do what?" he asked slowly, while the blond bit his lip, "just- what do those people _do_ to you on your birthday Naruto?" Sasuke asked, trying to keep his temper in check as his imagination went through all the things that the people of the village could have done and would do to his best friend.

"They do different things, it all depends on their moods at the time I guess, sometimes they chase me, other times they ransack my apartment, and last year they-" Naruto paused, trembling slightly, his breathing getting slightly harder as the blond clenched his fists. The boy gulped before continuing, "last year a group of them dragged me out of my apartment at night and chased me, trying to beat me" he finally choked out. Sneaking a peak up at the Uchiha, Naruto could see that Sasuke was livid with pure rage. His pale face had gone even whiter, he clenched his fists so hard that his palms began to bleed and his eyes burst into the Sharingan, the red eyes glowing crimson, the tomoe's spinning furiously, moving around his pupil so fast that it looked like the small dot in the center was surrounded by a solid ring of black, before they slowed to a stop, revealing two tomoe in each eye instead of the one in each he previously had.

Naruto, eyes wide, could only point and gape at the other boy. Indra filled Sasuke in when he seemed confused, _"your Sharingan just matured, you gained another tomoe in each of your eyes, so now you have two in each"_ he explained. Sasuke seemed shocked, then smiled, "he, I guess this means extra training then" he replied softly, almost to himself. The two continued walking after a while, before Naruto grew board. They had come to an empty training ground by then, bypassing the park as both were no longer in the mood for playing and the blond was itching for some action. They wouldn't be doing any more Taijutsu training in the Academy for a while, and Naruto was just about to suggest they spar, before Sasuke beat him to it: "hey, Naruto, since we probably won't do any Taijutsu training for a while, do you want to spar with me?" the Uchiha asked, looking for all the world like he couldn't care less.

However Naruto caught the glint in the other boy's eyes that said he _really_ wanted to do this, and since the blond wanted the same thing, he figured, why not? The Uzumaki grinned, "sure, do you want to do it like Academy sparing, with a ring and stuff?" he asked curiously. At Sasuke's nod, Naruto went about drawing a circle in the dirt, that was wide enough to give the two some decent sparing room. As they stood preparing, Hashirama turned to the Uzumaki, _"now Naruto-Kun, I think it would be best if you let us help you with this, no doubt, Indra and Madara will be helping Sasuke-Kun with this battle, so it would only be fair if you let us help you as well- after all, a Shinobi is supposed to use all of the advantages at his disposal"_ he explained. The blond nodded and Hashirama instructed him on which stances to use.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was also receiving advice from his previous Transmigrants. _"Alright Sasuke, I assume you've been taught the Uchiha style Interceptor Fist, correct?"_ Madara asked as the boy nodded. Indra looked at the raven, _"I created that style specifically to work most efficiently with my Dojutsu, so now that you've awakened your Sharingan, you'll be much more effective with it"_ the Otsutsuki explained. Sasuke replied simply, "hai" and activated his Sharingan. As both boys were ready, the two walked up to each other, Indra and Madara hanging back slightly, while Asura and Hashirama floated beside Naruto. The two boys held up their hands in the combat seal. The former Shodai looked between them, "are you both ready?" he asked. Sasuke and Naruto simply nodded. Hashirama nodded back and the two Shinobi-in-training got into position, Sasuke in his Clans Taijutsu stance, and Naruto in the stance that his previous lives had instructed him to use.

It was a sort of animalistic stance, with the way he crouched and his arms out in front of his chest, the fingers of his hands curled into half-fists, resembling claws. They waited half a second, before both rushed at each other. Naruto struck first, sending a strong punch to his friends head. Sasuke saw the blow coming with his Sharingan and managed to dodge by moving his head to the side. The young Uchiha then brought his leg up in an attempt to kick the blond in the head, however, the Uzumaki's fast reflexes due to his younger years allowed him to dodge- but just barely. Instead, Naruto grabbed the leg and threw the other boy over his shoulder, but Sasuke landed on his hands and sprung upright again. This time it was Sasuke who went in for a blow, ducking to the ground and delivering a sweeping kick, knocking his friends feet out from under him.

When he landed, the Uchiha tried to capitalize and land a hit with his elbow into Naruto's stomach, though the Uzumaki rolled away just in time and sprung up, blocking a punch aimed at his chest with his forearm. Although he wasn't fast enough to block the kick his sparring partner aimed at his stomach. It was a strong kick and enough to blow the blond back towards the edge of the ring. Naruto, though, decided he wasn't going to go down so easily, and used both of his hands and legs to slow his movement, so that he stopped just before he went outside the ring. Using both his legs and arms to give himself more momentum, Naruto then shot towards his friend, rearing his right hand back for a low punch. Sasuke also ran forwards, bringing his left fist back. Both hits connected at the exact same time.

Naruto's fist buried itself into Sasuke's stomach, while Sasuke's fist connected hard with Naruto's cheek. Both Ninja-in-training were completely still for a full 20 seconds, before both got blown back at the same time by each other's attacks. Naruto managed to stay upright, however Sasuke got knocked onto the ground and went skidding through the dirt for a few meters before he finally stopped. The blond stood up, "I win, Sasuke" he said with a grin. Sasuke sighed, before smiling, "yeah, I guess you do- this time" he replied, putting emphasis on the last two words. Naruto pouted, "and what is _that_ supposed to mean?" he asked, crossing his arms. "It means that the next time we spar, _I_ am going to win" Sasuke replied nonchalantly, but with a smirk at the end. Naruto scoffed, "ha! In your dreams Sasuke- now that I'm on top, there's no way I'm going to lose to you again" he replied haughtily.

The two glared at one another, before both began laughing. That is until Sasuke cringed in on himself, holding his stomach in pain. Naruto ran over to his friend when he saw this, "Sasuke, are you okay?" he asked, kneeling down next to the boy and looking him over in worry. The Uchiha grinned slightly, "yeah, I'm fine," he replied with bravado, before wincing again. Naruto's eyes widened, before his entire demeanor turned serious, "let me see" he said, a no-nonsense tone in his voice. The Uchiha grinned half-heartedly, "hey, come on! I'm fine" he said again, gripping his stomach the next second. The Uzumaki rolled his eyes, "yes I can tell, and I'm a Hyuuga- let me see Teme" he replied sarcastically, a more serious expression on his face than Sasuke had ever seen. Sasuke sighed, but relented, letting the blond raise his shirt, wincing a little again. Naruto frowned, gently moving the cloth out of the way to see a nasty bruise forming on the pale flesh of his best friend's stomach.

The blond cringed, now feeling extremely guilty- he hadn't meant to hit the boy _that_ hard. "Sasuke- I'm sorry" he replied softly, looking down. Sasuke sighed, "it's okay- both of us kind of went too far in that spar, speaking of which, how's your cheek?" the boy asked. Naruto touched his cheek where he'd been punched, only to feel it all healed, "fine," he replied, still looking on in worry, gently running his hand over the bruise, "Sasuke, are you-" he was cut off, however, when the other boy choked and pushed his hand away, "d-don't!" he ordered. A cheeky grin formed on Naruto's face, and he immediately changed his question, "Sasuke, are you ticklish?" he asked instead. Sasuke blushed and looked away indignantly. Naruto tilted his head, squinting his eyes in a way that Indra remembered from Asura, the look saying: _yeah, you are_.

Naruto's grin soon faded, however, "while I would like to take advantage of this discovery, I don't want to hurt you by making you strain muscles that are already bruised," he said, standing up and helping the other boy up as well, "I'm not sure what we should do, I don't think that's bad enough to go to the hospital, but, I also think it's a bit too serious to just treat with an ice pack" he said, cupping his chin as he thought about what was the more appropriate action. Sasuke huffed, "why don't we _try_ the ice pack first, and then if it's still hurt, we can check it out at the hospital later" he suggested. Naruto smiled, "that sounds good" he acquiesced with a nod. The two walked back to the Uchiha Compound, Sasuke trying to act strong, but still flinching or gasping occasionally at the pain that resonated from his stomach.

The blond was so worried about his friend, that he didn't even notice the hateful glares of the civilians around him as they walked home. When the two reached the Uchiha compound, Naruto left Sasuke on the step before the Genkan, while the other boy quickly went to the kitchen and got an ice pack out of the freezer. Wrapping it in a towel as he returned to the door, the Uzumaki leaned down and handed his friend the pack. Sasuke took the ice pack gratefully- in truth he had been hiding just how painful the bruise was. As he placed the wrapped frozen block against his stomach, wincing again as the cold object touched his tender skin, Naruto was in a discussion with his two past lives.

 _"You're getting good at my Taijutsu style, but remember to take it slow, Naruto-Kun,"_ Hashirama advised as he looked at the blond boy. Asura nodded, _"just in case, I think it would be better if you learned some of my Taijutsu as well- I pray that Sasuke never turns on us, but I just want to be sure you can defend yourself without either my brother or Madara being able to counter and kill you- I don't want to take the chance"_ he added worriedly. Naruto agreed that it would be best if he had some diversity in his fighting style. And speaking of diversity- _'hey, do you guys think that Madara would be willing to teach me to use a Gunbai? I was thinking of using one as my primary weapon since it's one of the most versatile weapons there is'_ he asked.

Hashirama tilted his head to the side in thought, his eyes closed as he did so _"hmm, possibly, I'm sure he would be glad to have someone to pass his techniques onto and who would be willing to learn from him,"_ the Senju turned to his current Transmigrant with a smile on his face, _"tell you what, I'll ask him for you Naruto-Kun, how does that sound?"_ the former Shodai' asked the Uzumaki. Naruto grinned, _'thanks Hashirama!'_ he replied cheerfully. It was time to start training seriously!

To Be Continued


	8. Chapter 7

It was a day later- October 10th and Naruto's 7th Birthday. As the two boys walked back from the Academy, Naruto tried his best to ignore the glares sent his way. There were only very few people glaring at him however, thanks to the boy he could now call his best friend, Sasuke Uchiha. The other boy was sending his own heated glare at anyone and everyone who stared at them. Sasuke, upon finding out what usually happened on the blonds birthday and that today was his birthday, had decided to organize his own day for his friend. He'd kept it a secret, so Naruto had no idea what was happening today.

"Okay, we're here" the Uchiha said. Naruto looked up, and his eyes widened. They were at Ichiraku Ramen. The entire stand was decorated with orange streamers and balloons adorned with the Uzumaki swirl were tied to the roof, floating in the air above the stand. Naruto was pulled out of his shock when Teuchi and Ayame walked out onto the street, the old man holding a covered pot filled with something that smelled deliciously like Miso pork ramen, his favorite, "Happy Birthday Naruto/-Kun!" the two Ramen chefs and Sasuke, along with Asura, Hashirama, and surprisingly, even Madara and Indra cried at once. The blond turned wide blue eyes to Sasuke, "you set all this up for me?" he asked in awe. The Uchiha nodded, "of course, did you _really_ think I wouldn't do anything, or I would just leave you alone today? You're my best friend Naruto, I was happy to do this- besides, you deserve it" he smiled slightly.

Ayame and Teuchi nodded, "That's right Naruto-Kun, now, let's sit down and eat before the ramen gets cold" Naruto grinned hugely and nodded.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

After the special birthday ramen was finished, most of which was eaten by Naruto, though no one really minded, it was time for presents. Teuchi went first, giving the blond a year's supply of 'free ramen' coupons. Next was Ayame. She had gotten Naruto a book titled: "a history of the most powerful Shinobi of Konoha", knowing that he loved to learn about the previous Hokage, among other famous Ninja. Naruto beamed at her, holding the book close. Sasuke went next, "here" he said, handing the Uzumaki a large wrapped package. After he opened it, Naruto fist-pumped in enthusiasm. It was a large, but not too big, dark blue Gunbai with red around the edges and the Uzumaki spiral on the front. Picking it up and giving it a practice swing, he found it to be slightly heavy, but perfect for when he would graduate.

Turning to his best friend, he grinned so large that his eyes were closed, "thanks Sasuke!" he exclaimed. Suddenly Hinata Hyuuga appeared in the entrance. "Um, am I late?" she asked shyly. After spending so much time with the blond and Sasuke, Hinata had lost her stutter, but was still shy, quiet and gentle. Teuchi smiled, "not at all, come in little one" he replied. The young blue-haired girl walked into the shop, where the old Ramen chef placed a bowl of ramen on the bench in front of her. Hinata smiled shyly in gratitude, before placing down the package in her arms and turning to the blond boy she'd accidentally sat next to without even knowing it. Seeing the boy so close, the girl blushed and turned away quickly. Naruto quirked an eyebrow, "hey, you're all red Hinata, are you alright?" he asked, leaning in even closer.

Everyone there had to hold back their laughter at the scene in front of them. Hashirama sighed and shook his head, while Asura face-palmed himself _"I'm going to have to teach him about girls"_ the former Shodai' said to himself, while the Otsutsuki nodded in agreement. _"Naruto-Kun,"_ Hashirama said, _"I don't think you getting so close to her is going to help her feel better- remember what I told you about personal space?"_ he asked. Naruto mentally nodded his head, and turned away from the heiress, giving the girl enough time to calm herself down. A few minutes later, Hinata had calmed down enough to present the blond with his gift.

It was a square package wrapped in orange wrapping paper. Naruto took it carefully, surprising the Hyuuga. He unwrapped it just as gently, and was surprised with what the blue-haired girl had gotten him. It was a specific set of clothes. They resembled a Sage's attire, with long sleeves that widened at the ends. They were mostly yellow with orange in specific places. Turning it over, he was even more surprised when he was met with the same pattern that decorated the back of the Sage of the Six Paths outfit- that is the red Rinnegan symbol with three rows of three red Magatama under that. Naruto looked to Hinata with wide eyes, as did Asura and Indra, "where did you get this pattern from Hinata-Chan?" he asked.

"Well, I had a dream about it before I started making the robes, and I felt like it just fit you, Naruto-Kun" she explained, looking down, "I-I'm sorry if you don't like it-" she started, but was cut off by the voice of the boy she was talking to, "no, no I like it, really I do," he paused, and the girl looked up at his face, "thank you Hinata-Chan" he said with a soft, grateful smile on his face. Hinata's eyes widened and her face lit up like a bonfire- she had to try very hard not to collapse. Afterwards, everyone finished the Ramen and Ayame brought out the cake. Since they had to get to the Academy, Naruto blew the candles out and made his wish, and then Teuchi cut the cake into six pieces, one for himself, one for Ayame, one for Sasuke, who, despite not liking sweets that much, took the piece of cake anyway, one for Hinata, one for Naruto and, on the blonds' insistence, one for the Sandamine, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Naruto had intended to keep the cake in the fried at home, then give it to the old man tomorrow, but just as he took the Ramen Take-away container with the cake in it, a familiar voice called from the doorway: "sorry I'm late everyone, but I had some things I had to deal with this morning". Naruto lit up at the voice, spinning around to see the old Hokage standing in the doorway with a gentle smile on his face, "Jiji!" he exclaimed happily, running up to Hiruzen. The Sandamine caught his surrogate Grandson in his arms, chuckling at the boys youthful energy as he did so. Then he stopped with a look of horror on his face as the image of a man in tight green spandex with a black bowl-cut head of hair and _huge_ eyebrows came to mind, the man performing a thumbs-up with a grin while his teeth sparkled.

The Hokage shuddered as the image faded, before being brought back to reality when a clear plastic container with a piece of cake in it was held up to him, "here Jiji, this is for you- I was going to give it to you after the Academy today, but since you're here I can give it to you now" Naruto explained with a smile. Hiruzen smiled back, "that's very kind of you Naruto-Kun, but are you sure you want to give me your cake?" he asked. The Uzumaki nodded, "hai, Teuchi-Jii-San, Ayame-Nee-Chan, Sasuke, Hinata-Chan and I already had ours, so here you go" he said cheerfully. The Sandamine took the container, "thank you very much for the cake Naruto-Kun, I'll have it for morning tea," the old man took a small wrapped package out of a pocket of his robes, "here, this is for you, Happy Birthday, Naruto-Kun" he said cheerfully, handing the package to the boy. "Thank you Hokage-Jiji!" Naruto beamed, and began unwrapping the paper. After it was fully unwrapped, the boy looked at what he held. It was a small book, with two different shades of grey on the front, one around the border, and one in the middle of the front cover. Written in black kanji on the front of the book was the title. "Tales Of A Gutsy Ninja" he read out loud. The Hokage, sensing the question that the boy wanted to ask, began to speak, "the main character of that book has the same name as you, Naruto-Kun," he paused as the blond looked up at him with wide eyes, "your father loved that book and admired the main character so much, that he and your mother named you after him, in the hopes that you'd become a great Shinobi, just like the hero of that book" he explained softly.

Naruto looked down to the book he held again, and gently stroked the front cover. Even if he didn't know much about his parents, he now knew that the book he held had been his Tou-San's favourite, and that both he and his mother had wanted him to be a hero, just like the one from the book. It wasn't a lot, but it showed that his parents had loved and believed in him, and for now, that was enough. The blond held the book to his chest and crossed his arms over it, smiling down at his lap, "I promise, I will be a hero, and I will save this world, Jii-Chan, Tou-San, Kaa-Chan" he promised, looking up at the old man with a fire burning in his eyes, determination lighting them. The Sandamine smiled and nodded, "I know you will Naruto-Kun, I know you will" he replied softly. After that the Third had to return to work, and the three Academy Students left the Ramen stand, waving goodbye to the owners, and going on their way to the Academy.

They _would_ save this world and bring peace to it, no matter what.

To Be Continued


	9. Chapter 8

It had been a few days since Naruto turned Seven years old. The boy was currently engrossed in reading "The Tales Of A Gutsy Ninja". Ever since the Third had given it to him, he had read it at least Six times. In that time it had become his favorite book, not only because the main character shared his name, or because their personalities were similar, though those things added to his love of the story. No, it was because of the story line itself. It was about the main character, Naruto Musabi's goal of bringing peace to the world and ending the 'curse' that Naruto connected to the hatred of the world that was present now.

To the boy, it was almost like the book was written specifically for him. As he let himself fall into the story he pictured himself in the same situation as "Naruto":

 _(Naruto's imagination)_

 _Kunai clashed and sparks and clangs echoed through the forest. A blond and green blur leapt to hide behind a tree. The figure stood their panting and trying to catch his breath. He was dressed in a green flack-jacket and black pants. The person was fairly tall. He had blond spiky hair, azure blue eyes and three whisker-like birthmarks on each cheek. The evil ninja that he was fighting laughed, "just give up, you'll never be able to beat me!" he exclaimed, clenching the sharp pointed black rod he held in his hand. The man put his hand into the weapon pouch at his hip and brought out two paper-Mache smoke bombs, "give up, on me giving up!" he called._

 _The man threw the smoke bombs out into the open. As soon as they impacted with the ground, the balls exploded into white smoke that clouded the evil ninja's vision. The sound of clashing metal was heard, and sparks could be seen, before there was a loud 'thump' that sounded much like a body hitting the ground. When the smoke cleared, the blond man was seen standing and panting over his defeated opponent. The unknown Shinobi slowly lifted his head from the dirt, "even if you kill me, others will attack the village- there will never be true peace in this cursed Shinobi world" he managed to get out. The man stood their looking down at his opponent, "maybe not now, but I will end that curse- if there's such a thing as peace I'll find it- I'll never give up!" he exclaimed with conviction._

 _The defeated man lifted his head a little more, "who are you?" he asked. The other man lifted his hand, "my name is-"_ "Naruto!" The blond boy was snapped out of his reading by his friend's voice. He looked up, "yeah?!" he called back. Sasuke opened the door and poked his head into the room, "breakfast is ready, luckily we don't have the Academy today" he replied. Naruto nodded, placing his bookmark in the book to save the page. The Uchiha raised an eyebrow, "reading that book again? That's, what? The twentieth time you've read it already?" he joked with a smirk on his face. Naruto stuck his tongue out at his best friend, "ha, ha, ha, funny Sasuke" he deadpanned, putting the book down on his bed. "I've read it so many times because it's awesome, it's about a guy who wants to end the curse that plagues the Shinobi world, that curse being the cycle of hatred, and his journey to bring true peace to the world while he never gives up- it's a good book Sasuke, you should read it too" he explained, getting up and walking out of the bedroom.

Sasuke glanced down at the little book on the blond's bed. The story that his friend had described wasn't really his thing, but he had to admit that the parallels between the story and their mission were defiantly there. He shrugged, what the hell. Sitting down, the Uchiha picked up the book and opened it to the first page.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

After breakfast Naruto left the Uchiha Compound. He walked around the village, watching the people around him. Despite the glares, the blond did his best to ignore the villagers that hated him. As he walked, he thought about the book he'd been reading. The story _was_ all too similar to their current mission. He really wanted to be like the Naruto in the book and end the hatred that plagued the world. He wanted to fulfill Sennin-Sama's wish and, along with his friends, bring peace to the world, but he had absolutely no idea _how_ to go about doing it. Naruto sighed to himself- their mission really was a hard one, wasn't it?

Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts when he looked around and saw he'd arrived at an abandoned training ground without even realising it. As he thought about whether or not to do some training, he sensed a new presence enter the field, "hey!" a male voice called. Turning around, the blond was met with the sight of an older Academy student, about the same age as those bullies who had tried to pick on Hinata before. He had long brown hair, pale skin and white eyes, so he was either a Hyuuga or blind. The boy also had bandages wrapped around his forehead. Naruto tilted his head to the side in acknowledgement, "can I help you?" he asked, deciding to be polite, despite the haughty air the boy seemed to exude.

"You are Naruto Uzumaki, correct?" he asked. When the blond nodded, the boy gave him a once over, "hmph, so you are the one who has been spending time with _Hinata-Sama_ ," the Hyuuga practically spat the name as though it were poison. Naruto's eyes narrowed, "is there something wrong with that?" he asked. The Hyuuga crossed his arms over his chest, "ever since she has met you, Hinata has been trying harder in our spars, despite the fact that it's impossible for her to win," the boy started, and the blond raised an eyebrow, "if you are the one who has been filling her head with nonsense about being able to become strong, I demand you stop immediately- all you are doing is pushing her on a useless errand. A failure will always be a failure- no matter how _hard_ one tries, you can never escape your destiny, your _fate-_ only those _born_ with strength will ever be truly powerful in this world- unlike you- a person who continues to defy his fate" he spoke with haughtiness.

Naruto's eyes widened, then narrowed. With each word spoken by the Hyuuga boy, the blond became more and more angry. Who did this bastard think he was, deciding who someone could and couldn't be? The rage he felt was not only for himself, but for his own past lives and Hinata. Both Hashirama and Asura had been failures at the beginning and had become powerful through hard work, so this bastard was insulting all four of them at once! The blond growled, "oh yeah! What gives you the right to decide what someone can and can't be?!" he demanded, "there are loads of people all over the world who started out as weaklings and still became strong- hell, no one is strong at birth, so what you're saying makes even less sense!" he yelled at the boy, "who the hell are you anyway?" he asked, while Asura began gently calming the blonds anger.

Getting too angry before and during a battle can be both beneficial and detrimental, it can physic you up and give you more energy and determination, or it could lead to you making a mistake and cost you the battle. Asura preferred being calm in battle, because at least then you will be less likely to make a mistake on your own. The Hyuuga smirked, "I am Neji Hyuuga, branch member, and the prodigy of the Hyuuga Clan- Hinata-Sama may be the Clan heir, but she is too weak to ever amount to anything" he replied. Naruto growled, okay, he didn't care _what_ Asura said about not fighting, this asshole _needed_ a beating! "Well, _I_ was born without any talent, and I will beat you down and prove to you right now just how wrong you are!" the blond got into his battle stance. This was about more than just Hinata-Chan now, though he would fight for her any day of the week. This was about finally gaining some respect, for himself and all those hard workers who had no talent but who still worked hard to change themselves and become strong.

Neji sneered, this talentless loser beat him? A prodigy of the Hyuuga? Impossible. Still the other boy got into his Gentle Fist stance. If the boy was so eager to be knocked down, then who was he to complain? Asura and Hashirama floated worriedly nearby, _"are you sure about this Naruto-Kun?"_ Hashirama asked, _"we've barely started your training"_ he pointed out. Naruto nodded mentally, _'I know that, but you heard what he said, this is about our honor as hard workers- I_ _ **will**_ _prove to him that you can become strong even without being born with talent or power- for all of us!'_ he thought back. Asura looked touched, _"Naruto-"_ he said softly. The two living boys glared at each other for another moment before running forwards and going to attack.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Kunai clashed and sparks and clangs echoed through the air. Naruto leapt back, away from Neji. The blond stood their panting and trying to catch his breath. Neji scoffed, "just give up, you'll never be able to beat me!" he exclaimed, adjusting his Gentle Fist stance slightly. Naruto reached into his hip pouch and pulled out a smoke bomb that he'd gotten from Sasuke, when he'd bought him new Ninja tools, "give up, on me giving up!" he called.

The blond Uzumaki threw the Smoke bomb. As soon as it impacted with the ground, the purple ball exploded into white smoke that clouded the Hyuuga's vision. Neji scoffed, he was trying to _blind_ a _Hyuuga_? Had Hinata not even explained to the boy about their Clan's Byakugan? Well, she shouldn't have anyway, it was _their_ Bloodline after all. Neji, who had just been using his regular eyes, having not deemed the Uzumaki a great enough threat to use his Byakugan on, activated his Dojutsu and searched around. But the blond was nowhere to be seen. _'What?!'_ he thought as his eyes widened, _'but that's impossible, no one can hide from our eyes!'_ just then a sharp feeling in his eyes caused him to close them for a moment and lift his hands to rub at them. Suddenly a cracking sound caught his attention and he opened his blurry eyes and looked down, right as the ground directly in front of him shattered and a blond figure shot out of the earth and nailed him under the chin with a strong uppercut.

Neji was knocked off his feet by the blow and hit the ground hard. Naruto stood their panting, looking down at the other boy with a glare in his eyes, "I don't know what you have against people who work hard, but I don't care, _I_ have become this strong through hard work and effort- even though everyone constantly tells me I'm nothing and will never become strong, I didn't give up and kept trying until I became as strong as I am now, and I'm going to keep getting stronger- I decided my own path in life, and I don't give a _damn_ about _fate_ or any crap like that- you can do it too, after all, unlike me you're not a failure" he said with eyes of fire, making Neji's eyes widen- he really believed that. Naruto wobbled slightly, before finally falling to the ground in exhaustion. Asura and Hashirama looked down at the boy, _"he really did it!"_ the former Shodai' exclaimed happily. Asura was just as proud of the boy as his other Transmigrant, in fact he was even prouder _'you did it Naruto- you proved to everyone that hard work and effort can make you just as strong as any_ _ **natural born**_ _genius. Thank you for standing up for our honor'_ he thought gratefully.

Neji managed to push himself to his feet, and wobbled over to Naruto. He stood over the boy, staring down at him with an unreadable expression. Asura and Hashirama tensed when the Hyuuga went over to their current Transmigrant, but what he did next caused their eyes to widen, "Naruto Uzumaki, maybe it is time I stopped blaming fate for everything I couldn't control in my life- as well as blaming Hinata-Sama for my father's death," he paused, reaching up to his forehead and un-wraping the bandages he wore, revealing a green mark there. It was a small 'X' with two lines going out from it. The ends of the lines were curved over, the one closest to the x on the left side was curved over the top, with the opposite end of that one, curved on the bottom. The right one was the opposite of that, the end near the cross was curved over the bottom, and the other end was curved at the top.

"After all, even with this curse mark ensuring that I must die to protect Hinata-Sama, that doesn't mean I can't live the rest of my life until then in my own way" he said to himself, before smiling a small smile. After that, he re-wrapped the bandages and bent down. The older boy picked up the unconscious blond and placed him on his back. Neji knew that the Uzumaki, no, Naruto lived with The Last Uchiha in the other boys Clan Compound. Once he got there, the Hyuuga placed Naruto down in front of the door to the Compound, writing a letter addressed to the blond and tucking it in his sash. He stood up and walked away then.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Sasuke placed the book down on Naruto's bed. The other boy should have been back by now. The Uchiha went to go look for his friend, he was a little worried. After putting his shoes on, Sasuke opened the door of his house. While walking towards the gate of his Clan Compound, he couldn't help but wonder what the Uzumaki was doing. However as he walked out of the gate, Indra spoke up, _"look Sasuke!"_ he said, pointing at something to the left of the boy. Sasuke turned to look where his original incarnation was pointing, and gasped when he saw the very boy he was about to start looking for sitting against the gate unconscious.

"Naruto!" he cried, rushing over to the boy and checking him over for injuries. His clothes were covered in dirt and marks, as was his face and arms, but thankfully he wasn't injured. However, he remembered that part of the Uzumaki Clan's bloodline was a strong life force that allowed them to heal fast, so that didn't mean anything. Looking around with narrowed eyes, even activating his Sharingan to check for Genjutsu, Sasuke sighed when he saw that they were alone. The Uchiha heir picked up his best friend, "you really do attract trouble wherever you go, don't you, Usuratonkachi" he scowled, before smiling slightly, that's what made him Naruto after all. The Uchiha turned around and carried him inside, intending to get the full story once the Uzumaki woke up again.

To Be Continued


	10. Chapter 9

It had been one year now since the Uchiha Massacre, and Naruto and Sasuke were in their second year of the Academy. The two boys still lived together, they would spend their lunch breaks with Hinata, their free time training with each other, or sometimes both Hyuuga Academy Students would join in as well. After Naruto had beaten him, Neji had become a very pleasant person to be around, and Naruto was glad to call him a friend. Though of course his friendship with Sasuke was much more special.

On this particular day he was alone, Sasuke hadn't felt well and although Naruto had offered to stay home and look after the other boy, the Uchiha had told him to go to school. So here he was, sitting on one of the metal bars in the Academy staring at the sky. As he sat and stared he started whistling. Asura and Hashirama just listened. He was defiantly very good at singing and whistling. When he swung too far back, he simply hung their by his knees, continuing to whistle. Just then he heard a sound in the bushes nearby. Naruto reached up with his hands and grabbed the bar.

Quickly he flipped around and onto his feet, letting go of the bar as he did so. He stood up and looked at the bushes. About ten seconds later, four children appeared and stood around him. Naruto grinned slightly, he recognised these children. They were in his class at the Academy. One of them was Sakura Haruno, a girl with short pink hair and green eyes. The other three, as far as he knew had always been friends. Shikamaru Nara was the heir of the Nara Clan, and a true genius. Naruto knew that, despite the fact that he was too lazy to actually do any work, the boy was one of the smartest people in the village. Choji Akimichi was a- round boy who was very kind most of the time, and didn't like to hurt anyone, even during Academy spars. And the last member of the group was a girl with short Platinum blond hair and Aquamarine eyes, Ino Yamanaka, the Yamanaka heir.

"Hey guys, what's up?" he asked cheerfully. However his good mood dimmed when he saw the way they were looking at him. It was the same way most people always looked at him, especially Ino. The blond girl was the first to speak up, placing her hands on her hips in a bossy fashion, "alright Naruto, where is he?" she demanded. Naruto frowned, "where is who?" he asked. He really had no idea what she was talking about. "You know, Yota!" she exclaimed. The spiky-haired blond shook his head in confusion, "I don't know any Yota" he replied sincerely. Sakura spoke up then, talking to everyone else, "well we had better find him soon, he doesn't know his way around and could probably get lost pretty easily around here" she stated. Ino turned to the other girl, "yeah, if we don't find him soon, something bad might happen" she said worriedly.

Naruto's eyes widened, and he looked down, "so this Yota is an outsider then," he said softly. The other kids all turned to look at him. The Uzumaki clenched his fists in anger, before he looked up. "If he's an outsider, why do you care so much about him!?" he demanded, "why are you so worried about him, when you all still look at me like that!?" he yelled, before he stormed off. Asura and Hashirama tried to calm him down, but the blond boy was far too upset to listen. As he walked farther into the forest, Naruto began to calm down slowly. He sighed, he just wished that there would be more people that would accept him. Hell, he didn't even play pranks anymore, so why? The Uzumaki stopped beside a tree, before he noticed it beginning to rain. Asura looked around, _"a sun shower?"_ as he stood their looking around also, Naruto heard the sound of someone crying.

When the blond followed the sound, wanting to know if someone was hurt or upset, he found a boy on a tree branch, sobbing. "Hey, are you alright?" he asked. The boy just continued crying. Naruto frowned, "what's your name?" he called, "it's Yota!" the boy called back. The blond gasped, "you're Yota? What're you doing up their?" he asked. Yota cried harder, "I'm lost!" he called, as the rain started getting stronger. Naruto gasped and jumped over to the tree trunk to try to keep from getting too wet. The Uzumaki looked around, "is this your jutsu?" he asked. Naruto looked down as he remembered the other children and their attitudes towards him, "everyone accepted you so easily, I wish it was like that for me," he narrowed his eyes in sadness, "most people look down on me and ignore me- all I want is for people to accept and like me for who I am, but it seems like I have to struggle for everything I have, whether it's attention, recognition, acceptance- anything-".

"Hey!" he jumped slightly when a voice called out from right behind him. Turning, Naruto saw Yota standing behind the tree he was leaning on, "I remember you, you were sitting on the metal pole before, going: fuu, fuu, fuuuu," he said, imitating whistling without being able to do it. Naruto nodded, not really understanding where the boy was going with this. Yota became excited, "so, so I want to learn how too to, when you whistled you weren't alone or sad, I want to be able to do that!" he exclaimed. Naruto shook his head. Even though he was never really alone anymore, it was still hard, "I wasn't really, I was just pretending that I wasn't alone by whistling" he replied solemnly. Yota nodded, "I want to be able to pretend as well, please teach me!" he begged. The blond smiled slightly, "alright, I'll teach you" he agreed.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

So the two sat and Naruto taught Yota how to whistle. After a while he got it and he was able to whistle fine by himself. As the boy whistled, Naruto noticed that the wind was blowing around them. _'I see, when you're happy the wind blows Yota'_ he thought to himself with a smile. Yota looked over at the blond, "hey Naruto," he said, as he placed his hand on the boys shoulder. The blond looked at the slightly younger boy as he whistled again, "you-are-my-friend" he said happily, grinning and giggling after he had said it. Naruto looked happy that someone willingly wanted to be his friend without any special circumstances.

Suddenly they heard small yips nearby, "hey, there you are!" a male voice called out angrily. Naruto looked to see the Inuzuka heir, Kiba and his Ninja Hound, a puppy named Akamaru running up. Both looked worse for wear. They were covered in marks and dirt and Kiba's clothes, usually not so tidy because the boy like to rough-house were even worse, torn in several places. Yota, seeing them jumped up, "no! no! I don't like dogs!" he yelled angrily. Suddenly purple lightning shot down from the sky and hit close to where Kiba and Akamaru were, sending dust everywhere and the ferrel looking boy and his partner went flying backwards. Soon bolts of lightning were going everywhere. Shikamaru, Choji, Ino and Sakura soon ran up, "Yota!" Sakura called, before they all had to duck as a bolt of lightning shot over their heads and shattered a boulder.

Soon everyone was running around frantically, desperately trying to avoid the lightning bolts and the subsequent debris that were everywhere, while Yota was huffing angrily.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Naruto, Ino, Choji, Shikamaru, Sakura, Kiba, Akamaru and Yota were playing Kick The Can together. Asura and Hashirama were watching curiously, trying to figure out the mechanics of the game. It seemed to be a combination of various games, mainly: tag, hide and seek and capture the flag. As Kiba was it, everyone else went to hide. Yota ran to Naruto, "I wanna hide with Naruto!" he exclaimed, laughing happily. Naruto looked around frantically, "Yota! Not now, he'll find us!" he whispered harshly, as it began to snow slightly, indicating that the other boy was happy.

"No, go, shoo- go hide somewhere else!" he demanded, crouching behind a bush as the boy began to sob, the snow turning into a sun shower. Shortly after that Yota ran off, and Kiba found him. _'Damn it,'_ Naruto thought, walking towards the middle of the field, _'is there someone who'll kick the can to save me?'_ he wondered to himself. As the blond reached the ring with the can, all the others ran up to him. Naruto smiled, "you guys-" he said happily, while his two past lives also smiled, happy for the boy. Sakura looked around, "wait, where's Yota?" she asked. Everyone looked around and began calling for the boy. Suddenly, Ino gasped and pointed: "there!" she called.

All the children looked and saw a sun shower above some trees a short distance away, "Yota's crying!" Choji said, "let's hurry!" Naruto cried. Everyone nodded and began to run in the direction of the rain.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

When they reached the spot, they saw their friend hanging inside a net, with ANBU Shinobi pulling the net up. Yota was sobbing, unable to get free and swinging widely as the net moved. "Hey! What do you think you're doing!" Naruto called angrily. One of the ANBU who was on the ground turned to them, "this person is dangerous- we are taking him in for questioning" he replied in a monotone. Naruto growled, "Yota's not dangerous! Let him go!" he demanded, pointing at the man. The ANBU member grabbed the blonds arm, holding it in a tight grip that made the boy cringe and try to pull away. Everyone began yelling at once, trying to get the Shinobi to release their friends.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Naruto lay on his bed in Sasuke's house. The young Uchiha was still sick, however he was getting better slowly. He'd had a bath and some medicine and was now sleeping. Naruto had checked on the other boy when he'd finally gotten home, and Indra had told them that his Transmigrant had a headache and they should try not to disturb him if they could. Naruto was thinking about Sasuke's condition, his other friends and Yota, when he heard a knock at his window. The Uzumaki turned to look and his eyes widened. There at his window were Kiba, Akamaru and Shikamaru.

The blond walked over to the window and opened it, "why are you guys here?" he asked. Shikamaru shook his head, "did you really think we would abandon you? No matter how much of a drag it is, we are all still friends" he smirked slightly, while gesturing to a point behind him. Looking further out the window, Naruto saw Ino, Sakura and Choji on the next roof over, "everyone" he said happily. Kiba grinned, "We're going to rescue Yota, all of us!" he declared, while Akamaru yapped in agreement. Suddenly something caught the Uzumaki's eye.

He pointed, "there's a sun shower over there," they all looked to where Naruto was pointing, "above the Hokage tower".

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Underneath the Hokage tower was a secret room used by the ANBU to interrogate people in. It was in this room that the captured Yota sat tied to a chair while several ANBU members stood around him. "Where are you from, what village?" one asked in a monotone. Yota looked up at them, his eyes filled with tears, but he tried to answer calmly, "I don't know this stuff, ask me easy questions". "Where are you from, what village?" the same operative repeated. The terrified boy started to sob, before he began to cry loudly. Suddenly all the ANBU froze as their bodies stopped responding to them.

Shikamaru slid open a panel in the wall, "Shadow Possession Jutsu a success" he said, climbing into the room, with everyone following behind him. Yota looked at them happily, "you all-" he said, though he seemed tired. Naruto ran up with Kiba, Akamaru, Choji, Ino, Sakura and Shikamaru and he began to work at the knots, "we came to rescue you Yota, we are all friends after all" he said, grinning happily. Suddenly bright lights came on above them, cancelling out Shikamaru Shadow. One of the ANBU hit Naruto in the back of the neck, paralyzing him. The Uzumaki fell to the ground, unable to move. All the children looked around worriedly as the ANBU operatives closed in around them.

Naruto struggled to move, as Hashirama and Asura began channeling their Chakra through the blond in an attempt to reverse the nerve paralysis. "All of you will be arrested for interfering in the protection of this village," the ANBU captain said, looking specifically down at Naruto. The Uzumaki glared up at him, still unable to move, "interfering in the protection of the village? What the hell are you talking about? We're just trying to save our friend!" the blond said. Yota meanwhile stared down at the blond boy with wide eyes filled with wonder and horror at the thought of what these people would do to those he'd come to care so much about- with him having no-one else, these children were his only friends. "Friend- that's right, Naruto is- my friend!" he yelled, using his lightning on all of the ANBU at once.

However, using his jutsu on such a large number of people at once, and having to create that lightning out of his own Chakra, since they weren't outside drained him considerably. The boy sat panting and gasping as sweat dripped down his face from the exertion. Asura and Hashirama were at that moment finally able to override the paralysis and Naruto jumped up. He turned to everyone, "let's get out of here!" he cried. Everyone nodded and raced to untie Yota.

 ** _ŚŅŸ_**

The group of children ran through the forest, an exhausted Yota being carried on Naruto's back. When they made it to the river, everyone looked at it, "if we can cross the river, we'll be safe" Kiba said, Akamaru barked in agreement. Naruto nodded, "right, let's go somewhere Yota can be free" he proclaimed, then all six children plus one dog plunged into the water, wanting to get their friend to safety. _"Naruto-Kun, be careful, the current is strong"_ Hashirama warned. Naruto nodded, as they slowly and carefully made their way through the water of the river, the others holding him up and making sure Yota didn't fall off.

Suddenly, Naruto's foot slipped down into a hole, and he fell under the water's surface. "Naruto!" Ino cried, but just as quickly the blond-haired boy resurfaced, "I'm okay!" he said, gasping for air. Suddenly they hit a rapid and the force of the water caused all of them to lose their balance and sink into the river. Naruto however was swept further away than the rest. Yota opened his eyes under the water. The Uzumaki boy was being dragged further downstream. With a sudden surge of Chakra stemming from his desire to save his friend, the boy used his control over water to shoot over to the Uzumaki, grab him and push him to the shore. Naruto gasped when he surfaced on the other side of the river, coughing and spluttering. "Naruto! Yota!" the screams of his friends drew his attention behind him.

Turning, that was when Naruto saw Yota face down in the water, being carried away by the stream. Scrambling to his feet, the Uzumaki ran after his seemingly unconscious friend. As both parties drew nearer to the shallows, they saw the form of Yota's small body laying face up and un-moving. Everyone crowded around the boy, calling out to him, trying to wake their friend up. Yota slowly opened his eyes, "Naruto, everyone- you're okay" he said weakly. Naruto lent over the boy "hey, you're going to be okay Yota, you will" he said, trying to convince everyone of that.

The other boy smiled sadly, "it's- okay, I know I'm dying- but you should all forget about me, otherwise- it'll be painful" he said raggedly, holding up his hand. Naruto grabbed it and squeezed it, "we could never forget you, you are our friend!" he exclaimed, as everyone also grabbed the boys hand and squeezed it comfortingly. Yota closed his eyes, "friends- this is the first time I've had friends before, but I don't want you to have to suffer because of me," a blue glow emanated from the boys hand, "thank you all, I'm truly happy to have been able to have met you- but now it's time for me to go" Yota erased everyone's memories of him and all the time they spent together.

All the children collapsed to the ground, except for Naruto. He still sat upright and held onto his friends hand, "Y-Yota" he whispered, before he too collapsed to the ground unconscious.

 ** _ŚŅŸ_**

Naruto sat in the Academy's playground, eating lunch with Sasuke and Hinata. The Uchiha had recovered from his fever and was back in school. As the three sat, Sasuke noticed that his best friend looked depressed and sad. He placed his chopsticks down, "hey, what's wrong Naruto?" he asked. The blond looked up at the sound of the Uchiha's voice. When he'd registered the question, Naruto looked down, "it's nothing Sasuke, nothing at all" he replied, hiding his sadness. Looking up he saw Shikamaru, Ino, Choji and Sakura sitting and eating together in another part of the school yard.

Kiba was running around with Akamaru. They had all gone back to their own lives. Yota had erased their memories of him and the fact that they were all friends from their minds. But because of Asura and Hashirama's interference, the blond had been able to keep his memories. However in some ways this was more painful, because he was the only one of them that remembered that they had all been friends, and it hurt that everyone else had forgotten him again- it felt like his bond with his other friends had been broken. _"It wasn't broken, because you still remember- you were able to become friends with them once before, who's to say you can't do it again?"_ Hashirama asked. Asura nodded, _'bonds are more than just physical, as long as one person remembers and still considers the bond precious to them, it can never truly break Naruto"_ the Otsutsuki said, placing his hand on his Transmigrants shoulder, even though it couldn't really be felt.

Naruto nodded, _'you're right, and there's no reason why we can't become friends again- even if they've forgotten, I still remember and we will be friends again one day'_ he thought back. Naruto turned to face Sasuke and smiled. They would all be friends again. _All_ of them.

To Be Continued


	11. Chapter 10

Today was the day. The day of the Academy graduation exam for Naruto's class. Both Naruto and Sasuke were 12 years old now, and as they sat in their classroom waiting with everyone for the exam to begin, Naruto couldn't sit still. Hashirama laughed at his Transmigrants excitement- he supposed it was to be expected. There was no doubt in either Naruto or Sasuke's minds that they would graduate today and become Gennin. And even though he didn't show his excitement outwardly like his friend, Sasuke was just as excited as he was. Naruto turned to him, "today's the day Sasuke, today is when we officially become Shinobi and can actually get out their!" he exclaimed. The Uchiha smiled slightly, "Hn, calm down Usuratonkachi, we still have to pass first" he replied.

Naruto mock-glared at his best friend. Despite what he said, Naruto knew that the other boy had the utmost faith that they would both graduate today. After all of their training, how could they not. Sasuke was wearing a long sleeved dark blue shirt and white shorts today. The back of his shirt was decorated with the Uchiha Clan symbol. Naruto however was wearing the clothes Hinata had given him for his eighth Birthday. According to the Hyuuga girl, the clothes she'd made him had special seals sewn into them that enlarged the outfit as he grew, so that he could still wear them now. The seals also had a self-repair function, though where she'd gotten the seals from, he had no clue.

Strapped to his back was the Gunbai he'd gotten from Sasuke for the same birthday, and he'd decided to grow his hair out like Madara's. There was something about long hair that he just liked. Iruka Sensei came in and called the next person in: "Hinata Hyuuga" said girl straightened and stood up from her seat. She looked over at Naruto who gave her a thumbs up, "go for it Hinata-Chan!" he called with a grin. Hinata gave him a small smile in return, and proceeded after their Sensei. Sasuke looked over to the blond, "are you nervous for her?" he asked. Naruto turned to face the Uchiha, "no way, Hinata-Chan's got this- but I think you should be nervous" he replied, gesturing to the other boy's right. Sitting next to Sasuke was one of his biggest fan-girls in the Academy- Sakura Haruno.

The pink-haired girl had already had her test and passed, as she sat on Sasuke's other side with a red Leaf headband on the top of her head, in the same place she used to wear her ribbon. Sakura was staring at Sasuke with a love-struck look in her eyes and- oh god, were those _real hearts_? The Uchiha inched closer to Naruto, shuddering at the look, "she better not be on our team" he whispered uneasily to the blond. Madara humphed, _"what happened to Kunoichi these days- back in my day, even though they were women, Kunoichi were still Shinobi, these days though, they may as well be good only for continuing families"_ he said, crossing his arms over his chest. As Naruto and Sasuke grew in age, so had their previous Transmigrants in appearance. Therefore Indra, Madara, Asura and Hashirama now all looked like they did when they had been twelve years old.

For Madara and Hashirama, it was very nostalgic, as both boys had first met and spent most of their friendship at this age. It was then that Hinata walked back into the room wearing her brand new Ninja headband hanging from her neck. Naruto beamed, "well done Hinata-Chan! You passed!" he exclaimed happily. The Hyuuga blushed, Naruto had complimented her! "th-thank you Naruto-Kun" she replied, sitting down. In the years they had been friends, Hinata had come out of her shell, more due to Naruto's influence than anyone else's, but she was still shy around the sunny blond. It was somewhere around the last two years that her shyness had gone from general to due to liking the boy as more than a friend.

However, Naruto, despite being smarter due to Asura, Hashirama and Sasuke's influence, was still very dense when it came to the feelings of girls. As nice as he was, he still didn't realise that Hinata's 'like' of him was anything more than what a friend would feel. Yes she blushed and would stutter around him, but he just thought that she was still shy like she had been when they were younger. "Kiba Inuzuka" the ferrel boy stood up, with Akamaru in the front of his grey furred jacket, "let's go Akamaru, this test'll be a piece of cake!" he exclaimed confidently, with his ninja hound barking in agreement.

Naruto became a little sad- he still hadn't forgotten how Sakura, Kiba, Ino, Choji and Shikamaru had all been friends with him all those years ago. Having Asura, Hashirama, Indra, Madara, Sasuke, Hinata and Neji helped, but only so much. He'd lost five friends in one day. It was still painful to think about, even now. Especially having them all so close but so far away at the same time. He hadn't told anyone, not even Sasuke. The only ones who knew about that time still were himself, and his two previous Transmigrants. Kiba walked out of the Academies testing room with his headband tied around his forehead a few minutes later, "yahoo! I knew we would do it Akamaru!" he exclaimed, while the Ninja Hound yipped happily for his partner and master. "Next, Shikamaru Nara" the lazy boy opened one eye from the table where he'd been trying to sleep.

"What a drag" he mumbled, getting up and slowly ambling into the room. Naruto snickered quietly, that was Shikamaru alright, that boy would find breathing troublesome if it wasn't required to live. A few minutes later the pineapple haired boy walked back into the classroom with his headband tied around his upper arm and slumped back into his seat next to Choji. The plump boy was sitting- you guessed it- eating chips with his headband sown on a bandana type of thing that allowed pointed tufts of hair to stick out the sides. "Sasuke Uchiha" Iruka called. Sasuke stood from his seat, "well, wish me luck Naruto- even though you and I both know I won't need it" he said with a slight smirk. Naruto rolled his eyes with a grin, "just get in there Uchiha, you arrogant Teme" he replied. Sasuke huffed in amusement, before heading into the testing room.

That was something that had sort of become a running gag to the two boys. They would compete to see how many times they could insult each other. So far it was Sasuke in the lead with 50 uses of the word Usuratonkachi. Naruto was just behind with 45 uses of Teme. _'It's almost time, there's no way Sasuke won't pass, and then it's my turn'_ Naruto thought. They'd already done the rest of the test the day before- a written exam, which, Naruto was sure he'd gotten at least mostly right, an accuracy test with Shuriken and Kunai- after hours of practice, Naruto's effort had payed off, as he'd gotten almost every hit in or close to the center of the target. And a Taijutsu exam, during which the students had spared against their teachers- and Naruto must say, after all the crap he'd put up with from the man over the years, it was so gratifying to be able to beat Mizuki with almost no restrictions.

Even Asura had to agree that there was something up with that teacher and how much the man hated him. Soon the Uchiha returned with a blue Headband tied around his forehead. Naruto smiled at his best friend, "well done Sasuke, I never doubted you for a second" he said as the boy walked over and sat back down next to him. The Uchiha turned to look at him, "are you ready?" he asked. Naruto did a thumbs up, "of course Dattebayo!" Sasuke sighed. He'd been trying to help his friend get rid of his annoying verbal tic for years now, but the blond hadn't wanted to let it go. Iruka walked back into the room, "Naruto Uzumaki" he called. Naruto bounced up, _'this is it, the first step to achieving our dream, our goal'_ he thought excitedly.

The blond Uzumaki composed himself, and walked into the room calmly. Iruka and Mizuki sat at a table with several Ninja headbands on it, all blue in colour. Naruto stood before the table, as Iruka spoke up, "alright Naruto, perform the Transformation Jutsu" he said, pen poised over a sheet of paper, probably his grades. The boy nodded, and formed the hand sign, "Transform!" when the Chakra smoke cleared, Asura's jaw dropped before he smiled warmly, while Hashirama chuckled, _"only you Naruto-"_ he said to himself. Naruto had taken the form of an old man with greying skin and long spiky greyish-red hair, with a long goatee of the same colour. He was dressed in a white version of his own robes and he had two horns and a red eye on his forehead.

In his right hand the boy-turned old man held a black duel-headed Shakujo, the bottom had an open loop, almost like a crescent moon while the top had a full ring, with many ringed hoops hanging off it. The only thing he changed was his eyes, people would freak out if they saw the Rinnegan, so he just had normal eyes with the iris as plain purple instead- although if you looked close enough, you would see a ring in the iris, going around the pupil. Naruto had transformed into the Sage of the six paths, unknown to his two teachers. Both men looked slightly confused, "um, well, that's interesting Naruto- where did you come up with this figure?" Iruka asked, in slight awe of the transformation- it was very detailed. "Oh, he is a very significant figure from a distant past- in fact he is one of the people I admire most in the world" the Pseudo-Sage replied, while Asura almost choked- he even had the voice right too!

Iruka nodded, "alright, thank you Naruto, you can undo the transformation now" he said. Naruto nodded and in a cloud of smoke, he was once again Naruto Uzumaki. Asura exhaled a silent sigh of relief- seeing his father again after so long- even if it was just a transformation had shaken him up slightly. "Next is the Substitution jutsu" the scarred teacher said. Naruto substituted with the chair in the corner without forming any hand signs- a feat with had taken many long hours of practice to achieve. Iruka looked impressed, "no hand signs- impressive Naruto, that's normally a Jonnin skill, and even then, most people can't perform any jutsu without hand signs" he praised, marking it down. Naruto glowed at the praise, but the next words from his teacher brought his mood down, "alright Naruto, just create two Clones and you pass" he said.

Naruto was sweating internally, _'damn it all, why did it have to be clones- why couldn't it have been anything else- that's the one jutsu I can't do, no matter how much I practice!'_ on the outside however, the blond boy showed none of his internal panic. Taking a deep breath, the Uzumaki brought his hands up into the hand sign for the Clone Jutsu. He had long ago been told of his huge reserves by his two past lives, and they had agreed that that was the reason for his inability to form the illusionary constructs. He didn't even know why the Clone jutsu was considered Ninjutsu instead of Genjutsu, none of which he could do. _'Okay, I can do this, I can do this- focus, concentrate,'_ he focused as small an amount of Chakra as he could into the technique.

There was a cloud of Chakra smoke next to him. When he turned to look, there was what looked like a dead clone of him, as it was so pale, shakily standing next to him. Iruka sighed, and Naruto lowered his head, "I'm sorry Naruto, I'm afraid I can't pass you" he said despondently. The blond closed his eyes and clenched his fists as his clone dispersed, "damn it!" he yelled suddenly, leaping out of the open window. He knew they weren't supposed to, but right now, he didn't care.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Naruto sat on the swing in front of the Academy, sadly watching all the other kids happily being congratulated by their parents. _'Why,'_ he thought to himself, _'I trained so hard- I worked on my transformation jutsu until I could transform into perfect copies of people, I practiced constantly with the Substitution until I could do it without hand signs- why isn't it enough- why is it never enough? What good is working yourself into the ground if it does nothing for you?'_ he asked himself.

The Uzumaki closed his eyes, _'would my parents be disappointed in me? Disappointed that I didn't pass? I was the only one who failed this year's graduating class, and now I'll have to be held back- Sasuke will be put on a different team, Hinata too- hell, by the time I do graduate, they might have made it to Chunin and always be away on missions, while I get left behind- always weak, always a burden- we won't be able to bring peace, because I'll just be the weakling that everyone forgot about'_ Naruto felt tears come to his eyes, and he clenched the ropes of the swing.

"Go away, Sasuke" he said when he felt the other boy come up behind him. Sasuke stared at the blond sadly, "they should have let you pass Naruto, I don't care what they say about you not being able to form clones- you are a great Shinobi, and if you had graduated-" "but I didn't!" Naruto exclaimed, standing up abruptly and whirling on the other boy, "no matter what I do, or how hard I work, it's never enough! Is it not enough for these people that I trained until I had almost used all my Chakra to perfect my Substitution without hand seals?! Is it not enough that I worked on my memory for hours so that I could make sure my transformations would look as authentic as possible?! Is it not enough that I trained until exhaustion with Kunai and Shuriken so that I could make sure I would hit all the targets?! Hell, I even locked myself in my room and studied for hours until I was sure I knew the answer to every question on the test! But because I couldn't make a stupid fake clone, I couldn't pass!" he screamed, face red from crying and his yelling.

"Why? Why isn't it enough?! Why am I never good enough for these people?!" he sobbed, collapsing to the ground and pulling at his hair in helpless frustration. Sasuke watched all this with wide eyes, before realising that his determination to become as strong as possible, and the fact that he was already at the top of the class for so long, probably hadn't helped the boy in his efforts. It must have seemed like no matter how hard he tried Naruto could never reach his level- much like how he'd always thought of Itachi before the massacre. Somehow thinking about his family, older brother and the massacre had become easier the longer he spent with Naruto, and now he was able to look back and compare Naruto with how he used to be. Thinking about what he'd learned from Indra as well, he could compare this especially to his friends first life too.

Sasuke took a deep breath, "maybe we could go talk to the Third about it, I mean after all, you are right about your performance on everything except that Clone jutsu- I'm sure the old Hokage could make an exception, besides, he may just have one or two jutsu that you can use instead of that weak illusion" he said, placing an arm around Naruto's shoulder, "don't give up Naruto, if Asura's hard work payed off, yours will too, I know it" he said, squeezing his friend slightly. Naruto looked up and wiped his eyes, "you're right Sasuke, thank you" he replied shakily, smiling slightly at his first and best friend. The Uchiha nodded and helped the blond up. Then the two boys left to go to the Hokage tower.

A short distance away, stood a single figure. The man had watched the whole thing with a gleeful smirk and was about to go up to the demon, when that Uchiha had got to him first. Now the two were going to the Hokage tower and were going to ruin all his plans. Oh well- if he couldn't have a scapegoat, then he would just have to commit the deed on his own. The white-haired instructor known as Mizuki smirked- he would retrieve the Forbidden scroll for Lord Orochimaru and get his well deserved power no matter what!

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Meanwhile, Naruto and Sasuke had just arrived at the Hokage tower and walked inside. Sasuke hadn't really been to the Hokage tower before, and didn't know his way around. But Naruto did. Leading his friend past the scowling woman that was the Hokage's secretary, the blond boy walked up to the Hokage's office and knocked on the door. Hearing a "come in!" from the other side of the door, Naruto burst in with all his usual flair, making both the Sandamine and Sasuke chuckle, "hey Jiji!" the Uzumaki called happily, running up to the man. Hiruzen hugged the boy who was like a second, or technically first Grandson to him, "hello Naruto-Kun, Sasuke-Kun," he said to both Naruto and Sasuke. The black-haired boy nodded and walked up to his leader's desk.

The old man smiled at seeing the headband tied around the Uchiha's forehead, "ah, I see you managed to graduate, Sasuke-Kun- congratulations" he said. Sasuke gave a small smile back, "thank you Hokage-Sama, but that's actually what we've come to talk about" he explained, sitting down on one of the two chairs set up in front of the desk. The black-haired boy blinked, if he didn't know better, he could swear the aged leader had known they were coming. Naruto pouted as he sat down as well, "I failed the graduation exam even though I trained really hard" he said, crossing his arms over his chest with a scowl, "and I passed almost everything too" he complained. Hiruzen tilted his head slightly, "oh- what was the thing you didn't pass?" he asked curiously, deciding not to use the word 'fail'. "I couldn't do the stupid Clone jutsu cause I have too much Chakra, or at least that's what Sasuke says is the problem- I worked really hard on my Chakra control, but I still can't make a single proper clone!" he said exasperatedly.

"Iruka-Sensei was really impressed with everything else, and I probably would have passed if it weren't for that one jutsu" he said sadly. The Third Hokage was thinking, _'too much Chakra huh? Well I can see why, with him being an Uzumaki and the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi as well- maybe he could use that jutsu though?'_ he wondered to himself. Suddenly he was brought back to reality by a hand waving in front of his face, "you oaky Jiji, I was trying to talk to you for the last few minutes?" Naruto said. Hiruzen smiled, "I'm perfectly fine Naruto-Kun, in fact I may have the answer to your problem" he replied. The old man gestured for Naruto to stand up. After he did so, the aging Hokage got out of his chair and walked up to one of his bookcases, "what I am about to do, neither of you are to speak about, understood?" he asked, and the tone of voice he used was defiantly the voice of the third God Of Shinobi.

Both Naruto and Sasuke straightened slightly and nodded, "hai, Hokage-Sama" they replied in unison. Hiruzen nodded and pulled one book without a title partly out of the shelf it sat on. To the boy's amazement, the entire bookcase swung inwards to reveal a secret room. Naruto had his jaw hanging on the ground, _'you never told me about that! how can I be Hokage if I don't know where anything is!'_ he whined in his head to Hashirama, staring at him out of the corner of his eye. The former Shodai Hokage held up his hands in innocence, _"don't look at me like that, I didn't know about this, it must have been something that was put in after I died"_ he replied. Naruto decided to take his word for it since it did make sense, and turned his attention back to the Sandamine just as the man emerged from the hidden room holding an enormous scroll. _"Hey, that's my scroll- the one I made with all forbidden jutsu that I encountered in the village"_ Hashirama said, watching his brother's student with interest now.

Upon placing the scroll down on his desk, Hiruzen unrolled it and began to read through the jutsu listed. "Ah, here we are, the Shadow Clone Jutsu, creates solid clones of the caster, as long as he or she has large enough reserves and a strong enough mind" he said, pointing to a specific technique on the scroll, "it can also be used for reconnaissance, since all knowledge that the clone gathers during its 'life' returns to the caster upon the jutsu's release," the old man looked up and smiled, "I think that sounds just perfect for you, don't you think Naruto-Kun?" he asked. The Uzumaki nodded, "it sounds awesome! How do you perform it?" he asked. After giving brief instructions on how to perform the technique, Naruto crossed the index and middle fingers of both hands in front of himself, focused a large amount- well, large to anyone else at least- of Chakra and called: "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" a huge cloud of smoke filled the room, and when it dissipated the room was filled with at least thirty solid clones of himself.

The Uzumaki's eyes widened, "holy-" he breathed. Everyone's eyes were wide as it sunk in just _how_ many clones the boy could make. "That was the smallest amount of Chakra I could channel-" Naruto breathed, before fist pumping the air in excitement, "I did it!" he exclaimed, as he dismissed all of his clones. The Third smiled, then called out: "come in!" The two boys looked at him in confusion for a moment, before the door to the office opened and Iruka walked in. Naruto grinned, "Iruka-Sensei!" he cried, running up to the man, "did you see that, I did it!" he exclaimed. Iruka nodded, "yes, you did Naruto, do me a favor and close your eyes for me, okay?" he asked. The boy tilted his head to the side in confusion but did it anyway. Naruto then felt something being wrapped around his forehead, and tied at the back, "okay, you can open your eyes now" the Academy teacher said.

Naruto did as he was told and saw Iruka without his headband standing in front of him. The blond reached up to his forehead and touched something cold. Then it hit him- it was Iruka Sensei's headband! "congratulations Naruto- you graduate" the teacher said. Naruto's eyes widened, before they started watering, and he threw himself into the man's arms, "Iruka-Sensei!" he exclaimed in joy. Sasuke turned to look at his leader, to see the aged Hokage smiling, "you had all this planned right from the start, didn't you?" he asked, smirking slightly. Hiruzen chuckled, "maybe" he replied, picking up his pipe. Sasuke bowed, slightly shocking the Third, "thank you Hokage-Sama" he said gratefully, before standing up straight and going over to join Naruto in celebrating, "let's all go get dinner at Ichiraku's to celebrate- Iruka-Sensei's buying!" the blond cried, before darting out the door.

Iruka blinked, before a tick-mark appeared on his forehead, "I didn't say anything like that, hey Naruto! Get back here you brat!" he yelled, chasing after the Uzumaki. Sasuke and Hiruzen smiled, while the Uchiha followed his exuberant friend out the door of the Hokage's office, closing it on his way out. Naruto would always be Naruto after all.

To Be Continued 


	12. Chapter 11

After a huge celebration at Ichiraku's, during which, in honor of their favorite boy graduating, and so that Iruka didn't end up broke, all ramen was half price, Naruto and Sasuke bid the ramen chief's and their now former Sensei goodnight. The whole way home, Naruto couldn't stop smiling, and he kept proudly adjusting his new headband, before Sasuke snapped at him that if he didn't stop fiddling with it the knot was going to come loose and it was going to fall on the ground.

Naruto pouted at his friend but left it alone. When they got home, the two boys went straight to Sasuke's house and to bed, they were exhausted from the day- well, at least Sasuke was. Naruto eventually fell asleep as well. Later that night, Naruto got groggily out of bed. He was tired, but he _needed_ to go to the toilet. Once he was done, the newly graduated Ninja was returning to bed, when he caught sight of someone outside one of the windows. Going up to it, the blond saw that it was a Shinobi roof hopping.

About to dismiss it as a Shinobi on a late night mission or something, Naruto was stopped by Hashirama, _"wait Naruto-Kun, you should follow that man, I have a feeling that there's more to this than we know"_ the Gennin nodded, sending a Shadow Clone after the mystery person while he left to get his clothes and weapons. As he was getting dressed, Naruto accidentally woke Sasuke up, however the Uchiha didn't move, wanting to know what the blond was planning. Once he was dressed, Naruto followed after his clone. Sasuke got up and quickly dressed and followed his friend.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Naruto reached the area where his clone was and dismissed it. He then got the clones memories and saw that he hadn't been able to step in yet and that the person was Mizuki. To his surprise his old Academy teacher had stolen the Hokage's forbidden scroll, and now seemed to be leaving the village with it. _"That bastard! I knew that there was something wrong with that guy- he's turned traitor!"_ Hashirama snarled. Naruto nodded and removed his Gunbai from his back, stepping out into the open before the silver-haired man, "Mizuki Toji, as a Shinobi of Konoha, I am placing you under arrest for theft and treason, surrender now and I won't have to hurt you" he said, all traces of his normal personality gone, right now he was completely serious.

The traitor sneered, "you? You didn't even graduate, I bet you stole that headband off someone too" he said, before a malicious grin formed on his face, "I know, if I kill you now, the village will worship me as a hero, they won't even care about anything else" he said. Naruto frowned, what the hell was the idiot saying now? "what are you talking about you miserable traitor? Tell me before I change my mind and decide to cut off your head!" he demanded. Mizuki smirked evilly, "as you wish, tell me, do you know what happened twelve years ago?"

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Sasuke, who had followed Naruto narrowed his eyes, yes, why did everyone in the village hate Naruto? It had never made any sense to either of them, though now it seemed like they were both going to find out. Naruto looked thoughtful, "I'm assuming you're talking about the fact that the Kyuubi was killed on the day of my birth?" he asked. Mizuki laughed, "the fox wasn't killed, you can't kill a demon, instead that was the day the third Hokage made a decree, a decree that everyone except you and the other children know about, but was specifically made so that you wouldn't know about it" he said. Naruto looked confused, about as confused as Sasuke felt. What was the guy going on about? "the decree was that no one could ever tell you that the demon fox that destroyed our village and killed so many people including Iruka's parents is inside you- you are the Nine-tailed fox!" both Naruto and Sasuke's eyes widened in shock. Nine tails? Naruto was- "didn't you ever wonder why everyone hated you? Why parents kept their children away from you, why they would glare and whisper hateful things behind your back?" Mizuki continued. He smirked, "the Hokage that you so admire sealed you up demon!"

Naruto looked like he was about to be sick. However Sasuke was having different thoughts, _'wait, sealed? Then that means that the fox is only trapped inside Naruto, like how objects are stored inside scrolls'_ he realized, _'Naruto's no more a demon than I am'_ the white-haired man took the giant shuriken off his back , while Sasuke's eyes widened, _'he's not kidding, Mizuki's really going to-'_ "die Naruto!" Mizuki yelled, spinning and throwing the weapon at the still shocked blond, "NARUTO, GET DOWN!" the Uchiha screamed, throwing himself down on top of his friend, just as the weapon impacted with his back. Sasuke hit the ground hard as the other boy fell to ground at the sound of his voice and looked up at him in horror, "S-Sasuke, why?" Naruto asked. Sasuke lifted himself up slightly, coughing up blood, "because you're my friend Naruto, you are the first friend I ever had- when my parents were still alive, I used to watch you- you had no family, no friends, but you were still so strong, never letting anyone else get you down- even though you were alone, you were still so happy, you exuded a kind of light, a warmth that made others want to get closer to you," the boy shuddered in pain, but kept talking.

"In truth, I always wanted to be like you, walk beside you, and have people around me like you- but it wasn't so easy, you were a being of light, always so happy, exuding warmth and joy and acceptance- and I was so different, I wasn't like you, no matter how much I wanted to be, I knew, I could feel that I was a darker being, even so, even so I kept staying close to you, hoping to one day be able to be like you- you were everything that I wasn't, but I still wanted to walk beside you as your friend Naruto- no matter what is sealed inside you, you are no demon," he looked right into the blonds shocked and wide eyes, "you are Naruto Uzumaki, my best friend- and now I can finally say- you are my brother, Naruto" Sasuke coughed again, hacking up blood and the atmosphere was broken, "Sasuke!" the blond cried, creating Shadow Clones to tend to the boy.

After that, Naruto vanished, reappearing in a full body tackle right into the traitor's gut. Mizuki was knocked to the ground and skidded back before finally managing to stop himself. The man stood up, glaring at the Uzumaki. Naruto stood there with his hair and headband shadowing his eyes, "if you ever, hurt Sasuke, my home, or any of my other precious people again-" he looked up, blue eyes steely in the moonlight, "I'll kill you" he said darkly, and the tone in his voice left no room for doubt. "Just try it demon fox, I'll destroy you easy!" Mizuki cried haughtily. Naruto smirked, "you shouldn't ask for things that you can't handle" he replied, before forming the hand sign for his newest technique, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he cried, and suddenly the entire clearing was full hundreds of solid clones, all calling out to the traitor at once, mocking him.

Mizuki began freaking out, "if you aren't going to come to us, we'll just have to come to you!" As all the Shadow Clones converged on the former Academy teacher, you could hear the man's screams all over the entire village. After Mizuki was good and unconscious, with a few more lumps for revenge, Naruto picked up the Forbidden Scroll and walked over to his best friend. Before he even had a chance to come down from his battle high, three ANBU appeared in front of him. The blond tensed, but calmed when he realized who it was. He nodded to them, and the three grabbed him, Sasuke and Mizuki's body and Shushined to the village hospital.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

When the old Third Hokage came into Naruto's hospital room, Naruto bowed and immediately handed over the scroll, "here you go old man, one Forbidden Scroll retrieved from a traitor" he said. Hiruzen nodded and took the scroll back, "well Naruto-Kun, it seems that you and Sasuke-Kun found out about some things tonight that I had wanted to tell you myself, but now won't have to," he said, and suddenly he looked and sounded much older, "I will accept any criticisms you give and answer any questions you have to the best of my ability" he said, closing his eyes. Naruto had many questions, but the most important one to him right now was: "why? Why was the fox sealed inside me?" he asked. Hiruzen sighed, "it was the only option, the Kyuubi can only be sealed inside an Uzumaki, preferably a baby or a child to allow their bodies to adapt to the Chakra," he paused and placed his hands together.

"You were the last Uzumaki alive at the time, your mother was dying, and so to stop the fox from killing anymore people, the Fourth Hokage sealed it inside you," the boy looked down, it was all too much, "I can tell you this much though Naruto-Kun," the blond heard the old man say. He looked up, "on the night of your birth, the night the Kyuubi was sealed inside you, your parents gave their lives to protect you" Naruto's eyes widened, "it's true, I was there, and even though I wasn't able to stop them or do anything about it due to a sealing barrier your mother had put up to stop the fox, I heard them both tell you that they loved you, saw them both jump in front of the Kyuubi's claw when he was angry at them for trying to seal him inside you and had tried to kill you to prevent it from happening and take his claw to the stomach- all for you, their most precious son" Hiruzen finished as he saw tears streaming down from Naruto's eyes.

Naruto didn't try to stop the tear's, they were tears of happiness after all. He just sat and cried until he finally felt he'd gotten it all out. After that Naruto turned to the old man again, "so what about Sasuke, is he alright?" the Uzumaki asked worriedly, drying his eyes. If anything had happened to that boy- "he's fine," the Hokage's words caused him to sigh in relief, thank god. "But he is here in the hospital as well, don't forget, he did take a Demon Wind Shuriken to the back" Hiruzen reminded him. The blond looked down, "it was my fault, if I had been stronger, or faster I might have been able to move out of the way and Sasuke wouldn't have had to of been hurt," Naruto sniffed, looking at his hands, "I wish I were stronger, that way people wouldn't have to protect me all the time- they wouldn't have to sacrifice themselves for me- I don't want to be weak anymore, damn it!" he exclaimed in anger, slamming his fist down onto the bed.

Hiruzen looked sadly at the boy, as he sobbed, "I just want to be able to protect the people who are precious to me," he said sadly, "instead of being weak and letting them die". The Third placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder, "you will be, Iruka, myself, Teuchi, Ayame, Hinata, Neji and Sasuke all believe in you- you have precious people, now all you need to do is to believe you can do it" he said with a warm smile. Naruto nodded and smiled back, "hey old man, can I go see Sasuke?" he asked. The old Hokage smiled and nodded, helping the blond out of bed. The two walked through the hospital hallways, until they reached a room labelled: Sasuke Uchiha. The Third knocked on the door, "Sasuke-Kun, are you awake? You have a visitor" he asked, with a soft smile. There was a moment of silence, before Sasuke's voice could be heard from inside the room: "come in, Hokage-Sama".

The old man opened the door, and Naruto almost shot inside, "Sasuke!" he exclaimed, gasping with relief when he saw the other boy sitting up in bed with his shirt off and bandages wrapped around his chest, to cover the wound on his back. He had a book in his lap and had obviously been reading. His eyes brightened when he caught sight of his friend, "Naruto, you're alright!" he exclaimed happily. The Uzumaki walked up to the other boy, "of course I am, what about you?" he asked with worried eyes. Sasuke smiled slightly, "I'll be fine, the shuriken didn't go in too far, and missed all my vital spots, the doctors said I should be able to leave in about a week" he explained. The Uzumaki narrowed his eyes slightly, "so you're alright?" he asked.

The black-haired boy nodded, "hai, unless you count dying of boredom a problem-" he was cut off however when a fist hit him on the back of the head- hard. "Ow! Naruto! What the hell-" he cut his words off immediately when he saw his friends face. Naruto was red with anger and had tears streaming down his face, "what the hell were you thinking you idiot!" he screamed, causing the other boy to flinch. "You accuse me of always doing stupid things?! I at least know my limits, and that I can heal relatively easily from bad injuries, but you on the other hand! You could have died Sasuke, and then where would we be?! Moreover, where would _I_ be! I'd be all alone _again_! Don't you ever do something as reckless as that again, or I'll put you back in here myself, understand?!" Sasuke, too shocked and scared by seeing his friend truly angry for the first time, could only nod mutely with wide eyes.

Naruto's eyes softened almost immediately after, and he engulfed his friend in a gentle hug, making sure to be mindful of the other boy's injury. For Sasuke, that rant, anger and fear wasn't unwelcome at all really. It actually reminded him of the times his mother would go off at him for doing something dangerous and reckless, and despite the fact that he had gotten and was in trouble for both things, the care that the blond showed was something that he'd craved for since his family had been killed- and it grounded him a little more. When Naruto pulled away, he frowned, "Sasuke, you're crying" he said. The Uchiha's eyes widened. He hadn't cried since the day after the massacre, the day he and Naruto found out about their- and yes he was going to say it- destinies.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Somewhere in the Hyuuga compound, a boy from the Branch family sneezed.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Sasuke wiped his eyes furiously, "don't worry, I already forgot that" the blond said with a smile. Sasuke nodded, and the Sandamine spoke up then, "okay, well, you should probably get some more rest, Sasuke-Kun, that wound of yours is healing up nicely, but too much strain and it might just open up again" the old leader said, standing up, while to two boys looked at him, "Naruto-Kun, you should probably get home- don't worry, Sasuke will be out of the hospital before the team assignments, and even if he's not, he'll be out before you have to do anything involving the team, so let's let him rest, and get back to our houses, hm?" he asked.

Naruto looked at Sasuke again, who smiled slightly, "don't worry, I'll be out of here before you know it Dobe" he said. The blond smirked, "I know you will- you couldn't stand missing too much training time could you Kono Yaro" Sasuke almost pouted, while Naruto did a mini victory dance inside his head. Hiruzen chuckled, knowing about the two boys little insult war/game. The Third Hokage and the Uzumaki left the hospital room, with Naruto promising to be back later, and Sasuke attempting to go to sleep. Soon the two were standing in the Hokage's office, "Naruto Uzumaki, Genin of Konoha, for your apprehending and successful capture of the traitor Mizuki Toji, as well as your returning the Sacred Scroll I am pleased to award you with the appropriate rewards for a B-A-rank mission" Naruto's eyes bulged as the old man handed him a scroll with the kanji for 'Ryo' written on the front.

Taking the scroll, the blond composed himself and bowed in gratitude, "thank you Hokage-Sama, but I have to ask- why a B to A-rank reward?" he asked curiously. The Sandamine smiled slightly, "missions were Shinobi will be fighting other Shinobi, are always B-rank at least, depending on their rank, so it normally would have been so for this mission, as Mizuki was only a Chunin level Shinobi- however, the item in question that you recovered was of extremely high importance for this village- therefore, it went from what could have possibly been a D-rank had the enemy been a civilian, straight to a B-rank since Mizuki was a Shinobi, and with the significance of the item in question, the mission jumped to an almost A-rank since you were also still within the village, understand?" he asked. Naruto thought for a moment, more like he was having Hashirama explain it more to him, before he nodded, "hai, thank you for the money old man, have a good night!" he called, leaving the office and heading home.

He'd had a long night and needed his rest for when he would finally find out what team he would be on.

To Be Continued


	13. Chapter 12

Naruto and Sasuke walked slowly to the Academy, Sasuke with one arm over his friends shoulder. The Uchiha scowled, "Naruto, I can walk by myself- I'm not crippled you know" he said in annoyance. Naruto looked worriedly at his best friend, "I know but that shuriken came so close to severing your spine- you would have been paralyzed Sasuke, I just want you to be careful for a while okay?" he asked. The black-haired boy rolled his eyes, but said nothing. The two boys walked in silence for a few minutes, before Naruto spoke up again, this time in a voice so quiet that it was hard to hear him.

"That night- the night Mizuki stole the scroll, did you mean what you said? A-about me being your brother?" he asked tentatively. He knew that the word 'brother' was a sensitive topic to Sasuke, and he'd never tried to force the other boy to see him as such. Sasuke looked up, "yes I did," he replied. Naruto looked at him, but the Uchiha continued, "back during that first night- the reason I was so opposed to having a brother was because I had just been betrayed by my own, and I was afraid that if I accepted another one so soon, you would betray me as well,".

The Uzumaki went to say something but Sasuke held up his hand and Naruto closed his mouth, "however, during the time we've spent together, I've gotten to know you better- and now I can say with full confidence that you wouldn't be like Itachi, you would never betray me like he did, and-" he paused, looking at the other boy, "you genuinely care about me, and I care about you- after all these years we spent together, our bond grew stronger, and I truly see you as a brother now Naruto," Sasuke smirked slightly, "a younger brother that is" Naruto snapped out of his happiness and scowled, "we're the same age! You're only a few months older than me damn it!" he snapped. The Uchiha's smirk grew, "then that does make me older, o-tou-to" he said teasingly.

The Uzumaki pouted and looked away, "yeah, yeah, whatever Nii-Chan-Teme" he replied. Both boys scowled at each other, before they both burst out laughing. Indra and Asura smiled at the two, it seemed after so long, they'd finally reconciled their relationship once and for all. Asura smiled cheekily at his older brother, _"that was a good one, don't you think, Nii-Chan-Teme?"_ he asked teasingly. Indra mock-glared at his younger brother, _"shut up"_ he replied jokingly. The Otsutsuki brother's laughed, and soon, Madara and Hashirama had joined in. Then everyone was laughing and in good spirits as Naruto and Sasuke made their way to the Academy.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

The two boys sat in their seats in their old Academy classroom for the last time, barely listening while Iruka gave his speech about their responsibilities now that they were Ninja and all that. Really, they tried, but they were just too excited for that. Their past Transmigrants couldn't blame them, they were bored too. "So congratulations to all of you, and I know you'll make our village proud," he finished. Naruto and Sasuke perked up, finally! "I will now announce the team line ups, team 1-" and back to waiting. As the teacher read through the list of names, the people who could be placed in their team dwindled until there were only a small group of people left.

"Team 7, Naruto Uzumaki," the blond perked up at hearing his name and sat, tense with excitement, "Sasuke Uchiha," the two boys gave each other congratulatory grins, they were on the same team! "and Sakura Haruno" Naruto and Sasuke's heads hit the table with synchronized 'bangs' as Sakura shot to her feet, cheering, "yeah! I'm on Sasuke-Kun's team, beat that Ino-pig!" ' _Why? Why her?'_ They both thought at the same time, clouds of depression, not unlike Hashirama's hovering over them, _'I wonder if it's too late to commit Sepuku (honourable suicide)'_ they both thought. Hashirama tried to cheer the two boys up, _"oh come on, it's not that bad, at least you weren't split up, right?"_ he asked. Meanwhile Iruka had gone back to announcing the teams, "team 8, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuuga". The white-eyed girl looked sadly at her two friends, and especially Naruto, _'I wish I could have been on Naruto-Kun's team'_ she thought sadly to herself.

"And team 10, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi and Ino Yamanaka" Ino jumped up, "what?! Why am I with chubby and lazy?! Why wasn't I put on Sasuke-Kun's team?!" she demanded to know. Naruto and Sasuke blocked her and Iruka's response out while they sat and waited for the end of class. "Your new Sensei will come and pick you up after lunch, so meet back here before then, and I suggest that you use this time to get to know your new teammates- I wish you all the best in your Ninja careers" the teacher said, before walking out of the classroom. Most of the former students began to move into their new teams, while Naruto turned to his 'brother', "want to go get something to eat, or just eat here?" he asked.

Sasuke stared uneasily over at Sakura who had jumped out of her seat once the teacher left and was trying to push her way past the other teams to get to him, "Sasuke-Kun, do you want to have lunch together!?" she called, unnecessarily loud. The boy shivered, before turning back to Naruto, "eat out" he said immediately, and both boys stood, grabbing their things, and walking down the steps, but not before Naruto waved to Hinata, who sat next to a bragging Kiba and a quiet Shino. The girl waved back and Naruto and Sasuke left the room.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

The Uzumaki and Uchiha walked into the Ichiraku Ramen bar, "Ohayo Oji-Chan!" Naruto called exuberantly. Teuchi looked up and smiled, "ah, Naruto-Kun, Sasuke-Kun, good to see you again," he said, walking over as the two boys sat down. Sasuke nodded respectfully as Ayame also came over, "so, you're both full Ninja now, congratulations!" she said happily. Teuchi nodded, placing a bowl of Ramen down in front of each of them "of course they did, you know how our boys are" Sasuke almost choked on a noodle at that, "hey, you don't have to call me that, I know you really only see Naruto that way after all" he said, once he'd recovered from his coughing fit.

The old man shook his head, "nonsense, you and Naruto-Kun are brothers, right?" this time it was Naruto who choked, "wha- Oji-Chan, how do you- I mean we've only just-" he spluttered. Teuchi laughed, "I could see it in your eyes, you've seen each other as brothers for a long while now" he replied. Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other, before they blushed and went back to eating to cover their embarrassment at being so see-through to everyone except each other.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

After eating and paying for the bill, the boys reluctantly walked back to the classroom where they found Sakura sitting waiting for them and their Sensei. To their surprise, the room was empty of everyone else. Sakura looked up at them, "the others Sensei's already came and got them, we're the only ones left" she said, looking annoyed. Sasuke frowned, and took his seat, with Naruto sitting next to him. Two hours later, Sakura was fuming, Sasuke was losing his patience and Naruto was napping when the door to the classroom opened. A head poked through the door, but before the man could even say anything, Sakura pointed at him and yelled: "you're late!" Everyone stared at the pink-haired girl, while she blushed at the fact that she had possibly yelled at their Jonin Sensei, if he was, or even worse, embarrassed herself in front of some random person if this man happened to not be their teacher.

The man let his lone uncovered eye wonder over the group, while Sasuke woke Naruto. The blond boy lifted his head and rubbed one eye, "what's up Nii-Chan?' he asked sleepily, yawning deeply. "Team 7?" the Jonin asked. Sasuke nodded. The silver-haired man nodded back, "meet me on the roof" he instructed, then vanished in a Shushin. Sakura scowled at the blond boy, "Naruto you Baka, now you've probably given him a bad impression!" she cried. Sasuke glared, "don't talk to my brother that way!" he exclaimed. Sakura looked hurt, "but, Sasuke-Kun-" "guy's, let's go!" Naruto called, leaving through the door.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

The three newly graduated Genin sat together on the roof of the Academy. Their new Sensei sat in front of them. "So," he began, "how about we start by introducing ourselves, you know, your name things you like, things you hate, your hobbies, dreams that sort of thing". "Why don't you go first Sensei?" Sakura asked. The silver-haired man leant back and crossed his arms over his chest, "well, my name is Kakashi Hatake, what I like and what I hate- I never really thought about it, my hobbies- you wouldn't understand, my dreams for the future- I suppose I don't have any at the moment, alright pinkie, you're up next". Asura snickered at the name 'pinkie'.

"My name is Sakura Haruno, what I like is, I mean the person I like is-" she paused and blushed, "my hobbies are-" stared at Sasuke, "my dream for the future is-" Sakura squealed and blushed. "And, what do you hate?" Kakashi asked, already feeling tired, "Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed, while said blond just hung his head in depression. _'What did I do in my past life to deserve this- scratch that, what did you two do to make me deserve this?'_ he asked Asura and Hashirama. _"Aw come on, what are you blaming us for?"_ Asura whined _._ Kakashi turned to Naruto next, "your turn" the Uzumaki perked up and smiled, "my name is Naruto Uzumaki, I like Ramen, Hinata-Chan, Neji, Sasuke-Nii-San," _'and Asura and Hashirama'_ he thought, "and anything fun, but also peace and quiet, my hobbies are watering plants, training and reading about history and the powerful people from the past," he paused.

"What I hate are people who don't understand the difference between a kunai and the scroll it's sealed in and anyone who would harm my precious people or my home," he said darkly, before brightening, "and my dream for the future, is to become Hokage so that I can protect everyone and bring peace to this world with the help of my friends" he said, and grinned brightly. Kakashi was stunned by the boys dream. _'Bringing peace? Seriously? But even if he is serious it's going to be almost impossible to do something like that-'_ Kakashi thought, all while keeping his face blank. He nodded and turned to the last member of the team, Sasuke, who was still busy brooding about Sakura, "you're up Mr Sunshine and rainbows" the white-haired man said. Sasuke sent Kakashi the infamous Uchiha death glare, while Naruto was busy trying to hold in his laughter. The blond boy's two past lives on the other hand were busy laughing their asses off.

Sasuke took a breath and began, "my name is Sasuke Uchiha, I like my adoptive brother Naruto, quiet, tomatoes and training, I hate people who treat my brother like trash just because of something he can't control and fan girls (pointed glare at Sakura), my hobbies are training and spending time with Naruto and my dream- no my goal is to help Naruto with his goals, restore my Clan and kick my older _brother's_ ass" he said with a straight face.

Naruto cracked up laughing, "good one Sasuke!" he exclaimed, while the Uchiha smirked and closed his eyes. Kakashi again stared at his new team, well, they seemed interesting enough. Now to see if they could be a real team. "Alright, you all seem like interesting people- so tomorrow we're going to take a test" he said, unfolding his arms, "this test has a 66% failure rate, and if you can pass, you can become real ninja" he explained. Naruto's eyes widened, but he kept quiet. Kakashi stood up and handed them each a piece of paper, "the details of the test are on this paper, meet me at five o'clock tomorrow morning at training ground 7- oh and don't eat breakfast unless you just want to throw it all up again- ja ne!" he said, before vanishing in another Shushin.

Sakura turned to Sasuke, "so Sasuke, do you want to have dinner with me?" Sasuke stood and began to walk away, "no, come on Naruto, let's go home" he said, while the Uzumaki stood up and followed after the other boy, "see ya Sakura!" he called. The young Kunoichi was left alone on an empty rooftop.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

After dinner, during which Naruto and Sasuke discussed what the test could be with each other and their previous Transmigrants, the two boys went to bed early, to get as much sleep as possible for their next test.

To Be Continued


	14. Chapter 13

It was the day after Naruto and Sasuke were assigned to team 7. The two boys were waiting in training ground seven with Sakura who had arrived earlier. It had been two hours since they had gotten there, and one since Sakura got there, and there was still no sign of their Sensei. Both Sasuke and Naruto had had breakfast, on suggestion of their Transmigrants, but it was obvious Sakura had not. And now they had been waiting almost 3-4 hours. They were exhausted, starving, Sakura more so, and just plain bored.

They were just about to storm off and look for Kakashi, when the man appeared on top of one of the stumps, "yo, morning everyone, sorry I'm late, someone switched all the signs along the roads so I got lost six or seven times" he said. Everyone stared at him incredulously, but said nothing, making the man sweat-drop, "a-ah, right, let's start shall we?" Kakashi said nervously, walking over to the three stumps and taking a small alarm clock out of his pocket and placing it on top of the middle one. He then turned to face them, "alright this alarm is set for noon, and your assignment is to get these from me," he explained, removing two silver bells from his pocket and holding them out in front of him, so they could all see them.

"You have to get the bells before noon, and anyone who doesn't get one gets no lunch and will be tied to one of these three stumps while I eat my lunch in front of you- the one who doesn't also gets sent back to the Academy" he explained. "But Sensei, there are only two bells?" Sakura asked. The silver-haired man nodded, "that's right, that means only two of you will pass- the other will fail". All three of the Gennin's eyes widened. "Now, you must come at me with the intent to kill, otherwise you will never get these bells- you can use anything you want, shuriken, kunai, jutsu, anything" he explained. Sakura's eyes widened, "but Sensei, what if we hurt you?!" she exclaimed. Naruto and Sasuke stared at the girl incredulously- was she serious? After some more explanation which the two boys tuned out, the Sensei finally gave the signal to start.

Immediately all three leapt into the bushes.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Naruto crouched in the foliage of a tree, observing their teacher with critical eyes. Years as a former prankster had given him good observation and an eye for detail, and he watched the man's every move like a hawk, while mentally having a conversation with his two past lives. _"It's defiantly a trick- since when was their ever a two-man Genin team? I've never heard of one since I've been here"_ Asura stated. Hashirama nodded, _"that's right, besides, he's a Jonin- you'd never be able to beat him one on one, or even two on one"_ the Senju said. Naruto nodded back, _'you're right, besides, I've thought there was something weird about all of this from the very beginning, but this just confirms it- the true meaning of this test is teamwork'_ the blond thought.

Then he frowned, _'if that_ _ **is**_ _the case then we need to find and get Sakura on our side- Sasuke shouldn't need much convincing, but Sakura might be a bit of a problem'_ Hashirama nodded, _"but she will do whatever Sasuke wants, and if you tell her that he wants to do your plan, she should listen"_ _'right'_ Naruto thought, then crossed the middle and index fingers of both hands, "Shadow Clone Jutsu" he whispered. Two solid clones of himself appeared beside him. Naruto looked at his clones, "you know what to do" he whispered to them. The clones saluted, "hai" they whispered back, then vanished to complete their tasks.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Sasuke watched Kakashi from the bushes, waiting to make sure the man wasn't going to find him yet. _"You should find Naruto so you can try to defeat Kakashi together"_ Madara advised. The younger Uchiha decided to follow the instructions of his ancestor/Transmigrant. He began to creep through the bushes, staying as silent as possible. Sasuke wasn't stupid, and though he may have been overconfident in his own abilities when he was a young child- a trait which Indra and Madara shared, he had grown out of that phase- mostly. He knew that no matter _how_ strong he was considered to be, he was still just a fresh Genin and his title of 'Rookie Of The Year' meant nothing out in the real world.

Since that was so, he knew that there was no way he could take on a fully grown Jonin Ninja and come out on top. As he moved past a fairly large bush, a bird flew out. Since Sasuke was on edge, he had to cover his mouth with his hands to keep from crying out. He looked over at Kakashi, but the man had only- started reading a book? The Uchiha sighed, then slapped his hands over his mouth again. Sneaking a peek back at his Sensei, Kakashi hadn't moved. _'Phew'_ he thought. "So, where are you going?" a familiar voice asked from behind him. Sasuke's eyes widened, before he leapt out of the bushes in a burst of speed. The Uchiha skidded back, before standing up as Kakashi stepped casually into the clearing. Sasuke scowled, _'damn, well, their goes that plan, unless I fool myself into thinking my speed is greater than a Jonin's- hell, I'm not even faster than Naruto'_ he thought to himself, gritting his teeth in frustration.

 _"Well, at least you can show him what_ _ **you**_ _can do"_ Indra said with a smirk. Sasuke copied the action.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Sakura leapt through the trees, searching for Sasuke. _'Sasuke-Kun, I have to find him, otherwise we'll be split up!'_ she thought, before spotting her Sensei standing in the middle of the clearing, reading a book. The pink-haired girl crouched, watching him. "Hey, Sakura" a voice whispered, right behind her. Sakura turned around, saw Kakashi crouching there and screamed.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Naruto's clone gasped, "that's Sakura!" he exclaimed, speeding up to find her as soon as possible.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Sakura had been crouched in the bushes, when suddenly leaves began spinning around her. When she was able to see again, the girl stared around herself worriedly. Hadn't Kakashi-Sensei just been here? "ah, that's right, I have to find Sasuke!" she exclaimed, before a rustling in the bushes behind her caught her attention, "S-Sakura, he-help me!" The girl whirled around, "Sasuke!" she exclaimed, relieved. However, what she saw made her gasp in horror. Sasuke was behind her, but he was barley standing, had several wounds, and kunai was stabbed into his body in several places.

Tears welled up in Sakura's eyes, and she screamed.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Sasuke stared at Kakashi. _"Well, shall we show him just what you can do?"_ Madara asked. Sasuke crouched in his Tai-Jutsu stance, then shot forwards in a blur of speed. Kakashi's lone uncovered eye widened in shock, how could a Genin barely out of the Academy be this fast? As soon as the boy neared the other man, he flipped over onto his hands and kicked out at him. Kakashi blocked both kicks, and grabbed Sasuke's leg. Twisting his body around, the Uchiha tried to punch his Sensei in the face, but the older man just dodged before the hit could connect.

During this moment of distraction, Sasuke went for the bells. His fingers had only brushed them, when Kakashi threw him back. Before he'd even landed, Sasuke was speeding through a set of hand signs that he knew by heart, as did any Uchiha Shinobi. Ending on the Tiger hand sign, the black-haired boy took a deep breath, "Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" he cried, and exhaled a large ball of flames at the silver-haired man. The fire ball sped towards Kakashi and impacted, seemingly setting the Jonin alight. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, that had been too easy.

Suddenly the sound of the ground breaking caught his attention. Looking down, he was just in time to see a hand shooting out of the ground and grabbing his ankle, before he was instantly pulled neck-deep into the ground. Sasuke seethed while his possible future Jonin teacher climbed out of a hole in the ground and stood in front of him. "Well, you almost had me, unfortunately for you, I was just too quick for you Sasuke" he replied, closing his lone uncovered eye so that it looked like a 'U'. Kakashi then turned around and began to walk away, "well, I have other possible students to test, so you can just wait there for a while until I come dig you out, later!" he said, before vanishing in a shushin.

Sasuke glared at the ground ahead of him, and blew some hair out of his face, which, annoyingly just fell back in front of his eye again. Damn it.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Naruto's clone had just come across Sakura and was kneeling beside the girl's body, poking her with a stick. Asura was quietly sniggering, while Naruto had a strange look on his face, _"um, Naruto, what are you doing?"_ Hashirama decided to ask, since he was the more composed of the two. Naruto cocked his head to the side, _'she's not moving, is she dead?'_ he asked. Hashirama raised an eyebrow but decided to ignore the clones seeming stupidity for now, _"no, she's not dead Naruto-kun, but from what I can tell of her Chakra, she_ _ **is**_ _under Genjutsu"_ he explained.

The clone scrunched up his face, but replied, "oh- but I suck at Genjutsu, how am I supposed to break it?" he asked out loud. His two past lives ignored the fact that he was speaking out loud right now, and decided that since Shadow Clones only had a portion of the originals Chakra, they must only have a portion of the originals intelligence as well- they knew that Naruto was smarter than _this_. _"Just place two of your fingers on her forehead, make the 'release' hand sign with your other hand, channel some of your Chakra into her body and say 'release', that should wake her up"_ the former Shodamine Hokage advised patiently. The Naruto clone did as instructed, and no sooner had he done it than Sakura began to wake up.

The pink-haired girl slowly opened her eyes and sat up, "what, where am I? where's Sasuke?- Sasuke! He was hurt and-!" she exclaimed, trying to get up, but was restrained by Naruto's clone, "easy Sakura, another clone is already searching for Sasuke-Nii right now" he explained. Sakura turned to look at the blond-haired boy with a confused expression on her face. Picking up on it the Shadow Clone said: "you were caught in a Genjutsu, but I released it for you- the real me sent us clones out to find you and Sasuke and bring you to him so that he could explain the meaning of this test and his plan to pass it" it explained.

Sakura's eyes lit up, "Sasuke's their?" she asked. Naruto's Shadow Clone nodded uneasily, feeling extremely creeped out at the way she spoke and looked about his creator's brother. Sakura shot up in an instant, all traces of exhaustion vanishing like they were never there. She grabbed the clones wrist, "then let's go!" she cried, speeding off with the swirly-eyed clone being dragged behind her.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Sasuke huffed in annoyance and aggravation as his younger brother stood in front of him. The ebony-haired boy was still buried up to his neck in the ground, and was getting extremely sweaty as the afternoon sun beat down on him. It was a wonder his naturally pale complexion hadn't started to burn yet. Naruto had found him a little over fifteen minutes ago now, and all he'd done since he'd come across him was point at the other boy and laugh his ass off.

It didn't help that Asura and Hashirama were doing the same at the expense of the young Uchiha's pride. Sasuke had finally had enough, and snapped, "Naruto! If you don't get me out of here right now, you aren't going to have ramen for a month, you hear me!" he yelled. Naruto pouted and sighed, "okay, okay, no need to be so mean, it was just funny, that's all" he replied, going up to Sasuke and beginning to dig the boy out. Soon enough the Uchiha was dug out enough to finish freeing himself. Once that was done, he turned to Naruto with a glare and raised his fist, obviously intending to knock the blond over the head for having made fun of him for so long- especially when they didn't have long in the first place.

Naruto raised his hands in a placating manor, "wait Sasuke, I'm only a clone, the meaning of this test is teamwork, so the boss sent me to find you and Sakura and bring you to him while he thought of a plan" he explained hurriedly. Sasuke sighed and lowered his fist, "fine Usuratonkachi, but when I see your real self again I'm knocking him over the head for the fact that you took so long" he replied, while the clone pouted, but turned to lead the way to his real body.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Meanwhile, Naruto had just finished thinking up a plan with the help of Asura and Hashirama, when his first Clone arrived with Sakura. He turned to her with a smile, "good, you're here, now we just have to wait for Sasuke and I can start explaining the plan to you guys" he said. Sakura scowled, "what? You mean Sasuke isn't here yet?! And why are _you_ making the plan, Sasuke's smarter than you, he should make the plan!" she exclaimed, before Naruto shot forwards and covered her mouth with his hand, "shhhh!" he hissed, staring around with wide eyes, before looking back at the pink-haired girl, "do you want Kakashi to find us again?" he asked harshly, looking right into her eyes, "because he will if you keep being as loud as you are".

He took his hand away, which proved to be a mistake as Sakura took a breath to begin screaming again. Thankfully before she could, Naruto's second clone arrived with Sasuke. Immediately, Sakura's personality shifted from angry and possibly deadly, to happy and complacent, "Sasuke-Kun! You're alright!" she cried, rushing the boy and attempting to tackle-glomp him. The other boy however immediately replaced himself with Naruto's clone who was still beside him. The pink-haired girl knocked the clone to the ground where it dissipated into Chakra smoke, weather from the impact with the ground or the force with which Sakura ploughed into it was unknown.

Naruto shivered when he got the memories of the swift yet painful death that his clone suffered through and turned to his older brother, "that was cruel, no one deserves to suffer that horrifying a death, especially not your own brother" he whined. Sasuke smirked slightly, "but it wasn't you, it was your clone" he replied haughtily. Naruto sighed, "that's not the point-" the boy muttered, before becoming serious, "alright, now as I was telling Sakura, I'm sure the meaning of this test is teamwork and I've come up with a plan that might get us the bells- but it'll need all of us" he explained, looking at each of his teammates.

Sasuke nodded, while Sakura looked enamored to be able to work together with her crush, "I'm in!" she exclaimed enthusiastically. Sasuke inched away from the girl when her stare turned predatory, "are you sure we have to work together with _her_?" he whispered to Naruto with a shudder.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Kakashi was reading his book, when suddenly; around thirty kunai came speeding at him from the trees. The man simply dodged and kept reading, "hey Sensei! fight me!" Naruto demanded, stepping out of the forest and into the open. The white-haired man glanced up briefly, before looking back down at his book with a disinterested look in his eye, "nah, I think I'd rather find out what happens next in my book instead- besides, you seem pretty much like a failure to me, I doubt it would even be worth the effort" he said lazily, turning the page.

Naruto glared at him- a failure, huh? Well Neji had said the same thing and Naruto had made him eat those words! The blond formed a hand sign and in a cloud of smoke, their stood Naruto plus three. All of them held the same Gunbai in their hands, and wore identical smirks of victory, "get ready Sensei, cause here I come!" they called at the same time. Three of the four rushed straight at the Jonin while one stayed back. All the clones began attacking with their Gunbai's, hacking and slicing, and sending walls of wind towards Kakashi. The White-haired man was actually forced to put away his book and start dodging seriously.

How had a Genin become so good with a weapon- a weapon that he was never recorded to have had or learned to use in the Academy? Leaping into the air, Kakashi went straight for the Naruto that was staying back- he knew that was probably the original. With a swift movement, he made a shallow cut on the boy's chest with a kunai. Naruto fell back on the ground with a thud. However he also turned to smoke seconds later. Kakashi's eye widened, that one was a clone as well? Suddenly, faster than he could blink, one of the other clones had hit him in the back with its war fan, sending him forwards. As he turned around, he saw another of the blonds finishing up a set of hand signs. Said clone then blew fire out of its mouth.

 _'What?'_ Kakashi thought, barely managing to avoid the flaming ball of death as it roared past him. Before he even had time to think, a hail of kunai flew at him, while another of the clones sped them up with another blast of wind from it's Gunbai. The silver-haired Shinobi leapt out of the way but heard a jingling sound behind him. Turning, he saw his two bells being picked up by a Naruto clone. Kakashi eye-smiled, "well done Naruto, you pass, but it looks like the other two are going back to the Academy" he said. To his confusion, Naruto smiled and shook his head, "nope, you're wrong, none of us are going back to the Academy Kakashi-Sensei" he replied.

The older Shinobi raised an eyebrow, "oh, and why is that?" he asked curiously. The two other Naruto clones vanished in a cloud of smoke, revealing a smirking Sasuke and a smiling Sakura in their place, "because we passed your test Sensei" Sakura said. Sasuke nodded, while Naruto turned to his two teammates and threw them each a bell, "this test was about teamwork, and the three of us worked together to get the bells, therefore we all pass- isn't that right?" the Uchiha said, walking up to stand beside Naruto after catching his bell, while, after a moment, Sakura did the same. Kakashi stared at them for a moment, before smiling so wide it could be seen through his mask, "that's right, you're the first team to get it and the first team to pass my test, but before I say anymore, I'd like to show you something".

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Kakashi led them over to the center of the training field, in which stood a strangely shaped black stone. The Jonin stared at it silently for a moment before speaking in a subdued voice, "this is the memorial stone- it has the name of all the village hero's engraved on it- but these hero's are special," he paused and looked up at his students out of the corner of his eye. Sasuke looked impassive, Naruto looked curious and Sakura looked confused, "they are all KIA, or killed in action" he continued a moment later. The eyes of all the Genin widened, even Sasuke's enlarged a fraction. After a moment to make sure they all understood, Kakashi continued.

"The names of all my closest friends are on this stone, they all gave their lives for the sake of their home and their comrades-" he paused again, and this time the silence was broken. Naruto tentatively asked, "do you think my parents are on their?" he asked softly. Kakashi turned to him with slightly wide eyes, but the boy's blue orbs were fixed on the stone, "I've asked the Third Hokage about my parents many times, but all he said was that they were hero's who died protecting the village on the day of my birth" he said quietly. The white-haired man closed his eyes, thinking about his Sensei and his wife, before opening his eyes and looking back at the memorial stone, "I believe they are" he replied just as quietly.

Kakashi took a breath, banishing old memories, "in this world, there are times where you'll have to make difficult choices, for example-" the Jonin vanished and was suddenly on top of Sasuke with a kunai knife to his neck, "Naruto, kill Sakura now or Sasuke dies" he ordered. Sakura gasped, however Kakashi was shocked when Naruto vanished, and he suddenly felt the cool touch of the metal of the blonds Gunbai against his own neck, "let- him- go" the Uzumaki said slowly. Kakashi slowly removed his kunai from Sasuke's neck and stood up, the Uchiha following after, "easy Naruto, it was only an example- just to show all of you what could happen in the real world" he said, holding up his hands in surrender.

Naruto's eyes became clouded, "I already know what can happen in this world, I know just how merciless, cruel and unforgiving people can be- you may have meant it as an example and you may also be our teacher now," his eyes darkened, "but if you **ever** threaten my friends again, then, Sensei or not, fellow Konoha Shinobi or not- I will not show mercy" he said darkly. Sakura was speechless. Sasuke's eyes were wide, _'knows how merciless, cruel and unforgiving people can be? I know that the villagers did horrible things to him on his sixth birthday, but what other horrors has Naruto experienced that I haven't seen or heard of? Just how bad was his life before we became friends?'_ he thought in shock.

Naruto nodded and replaced his Gunbai on his back. Kakashi turned to look back at the sky, "my best friend's name is also on that stone, before he died he told me: "in this world, those who break the rules are regarded as scum, but- those who abandon their friends are worse than scum, if I'm going to be scum either way, then I'm breaking the rules, and if that somehow makes me any less of a Shinobi, then I'll crush all of the so called _real_ Shinobi" Naruto grinned, that was a Nindo he could live by. Kakashi did a thumbs up, "congratulations, you pass, team Seven starts it's first mission tomorrow- dismissed" he said, as Naruto fist pumped the air, "yeah, we did it! We're real Ninja!" he cried as Sasuke smiled slightly, and Sakura started cheering wildly. Kakashi then vanished, leaving the new team Seven alone.

Naruto turned to Sasuke, "well?" he asked. Sasuke nodded, "let's go home and have dinner, okay Naruto?" The Uzumaki nodded, and started walking away with the other boy, "oh, wait Nii-San" he turned and ran back over to Sakura, who looked at him questioningly, "hey Sakura, I just wanted to say thank you for trusting me and helping with the plan, even though I know you only helped because Sasuke wanted to" he said and looked down. Sakura felt guilty, "w-well, it was a good plan, you really came through for us, so thank you Naruto," she paused and suddenly became flustered, "w-well, I have to go, bye!" she said and ran off. Naruto looked confused, "what was _that_ about?" he whispered to himself. Hashirama smiled slightly, _"when you're older you'll understand"_ Naruto shrugged, and left for home after Sasuke.

To Be Continued


	15. Chapter 14

Naruto hid behind a tree, "this is blond fox, I repeat, this is blond fox, come in silver dog, do you copy?" he asked into a radio around his neck. "Silver dog here, I copy, do you have the target in sight?" Kakashi said from over the radio. "Pink rabbit here, yes I can see the target, it's about twenty meters away" Sakura replied. "Black wolf here- I also see it, I'm ready whenever you are" Sasuke said. Kakashi nodded, "alright, make sure the target doesn't know you're their- ready, three, two, one- go!" he ordered. All three Genin leapt at the target, who yowled and scratched Naruto across the face.

The blond fell back, clutching at the angry red scratch marks across his face with one hand. He pushed himself up with the other as Sakura attempted to grab the target, but it used it's back legs to kick her in the stomach and jumped away. However Sasuke caught the raging mass of claws and fur in his hands, his red eyes staring directly into the creatures own, the tomoe of his Sharingan spinning as he trapped it in a Genjutsu. The animal stared for a moment before becoming limp in the Uchiha's arms. Sakura stood up and walked over to Sasuke, still clutching her stomach- damn that thing had some strength in its back legs.

Naruto meanwhile had also stood up and was nursing his face, as it slowly healed from the damage done to it thanks to his Uzumaki life force. "Capture successful," Sakura reported over her headset as she glared at the now sleeping cat held in Sasuke's arms, "identity confirmed, lost pet Tora capture mission complete".

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Team Seven stood dirty and exhausted in the Hokage's office while Madame Shimji, the Damiyo's wife crushed the life out of the now yowling cat. Though he knew it was mean, Naruto couldn't help thinking that that demon cat deserved just what it was getting. Though he also knew now why the cat escaped so much that a Genin team was sent out after the thing every week. _"poor thing- I feel a little sorry for it"_ Hashirama said, staring with pity as the animal was held far too tightly.

Hiruzen looked at team 7, "alright, well done, now we have some other missions, grocery shopping for a merchant, babysitting a councilman's son, or-" Naruto was twitching. He knew that he was just a fresh Genin, but seriously- couldn't they do something other than these boring chores? They were Shinobi for crying out loud, it was humiliating to do something like this, I mean, what good did it do anyway? Suddenly he had a thought. "Hey old man, I just had an idea- why not have the Academy students do the D-Rank missions?" he asked.

The Sandamine looked up at him and gestured for the boy to explain, "what I mean is, have the Academy students do the D-ranks so they can 1: get a taste of how missions are run, 2: get them used to working in a three-man squad under a Jonin, or someone who is available at least, 3: earn money while helping the village and 4: it would be a good way to find out which students work well together and which don't in mission scenarios, while they are safe inside the village and help them learn about teamwork earlier- that would also make it easier to set up Genin Teams when the students graduate" Naruto explained the thought he'd had.

Everyone stared at the blond with wide eyes, even Sasuke and the former Transmigrants who knew Naruto best were stunned at the display of logic and intelligence he'd just shown. Hiruzen opened and closed his mouth a few times before finally finding his voice again, "Naruto, that is- genius!" he cried, while said boy blushed in embarrassment and scratched the back of his head, "ah, not really, it was just a thought I had- you don't have to use it if you don't want to" he replied. The Sandamine shook his head, "no, no, it really is, that method is more efficient and helps the students get more experience faster, which improves their quality when they _do_ graduate and we'll also knew exactly who to place them with on teams, boosting the overall performance and confidence to be on a team of people they know, trust and can work with- this would greatly help the village- why did I never think of that?" he asked himself.

Hiruzen smiled his Grandfatherly smile, "congratulations' Naruto-Kun, because of you the strength of our Shinobi corps will increase tenfold once I get this properly put in place, thank you" he said sincerely. Sasuke smiled slightly, Naruto was in no way, shape or form an idiot- he truly was a genius, and this was coming from Sasuke, the Transmigrant of someone praised as a natural-born genius by even the Sage of the Six Paths himself. The Third sighed in satisfaction and looked at the scrolls on his desk, "well since you've helped us so much today it wouldn't really be fair of me to give you another D-rank, would it?" he asked and chuckled slightly to himself, picking up a scroll from the top of his desk and reading it over before nodding and tossing it to Kakashi, who opened it to read what was written on it.

When he had, the Jonin's eye widened considerably, it was a C-Rank escort mission. He knew that Genin could do those, but usually that was much more mature Genin and ones who had been Shinobi longer, not fresh graduates straight out of the Academy who'd only done a fair amount of D-ranks and never left the village. Kakashi looked up, "Hokage-Sama you can't seriously want to give my team a C-Rank mission- they've barely been Genin for a month, do you really think it's wise to send them on a mission outside the village where we could be attacked by enemies so easily- no offense but I'm not sure they're ready for it" he stated, a slight tone of worry in his otherwise lazy drawl.

Naruto and Sasuke glared at the man, they weren't babies, damn it! and here was Kakashi treating them like they had to be wrapped up in cotton wool and preserved like some delicate china artifact! Neither of the two boys was anything close to innocent. They'd left that stage long ago. Yes, maybe Sakura wasn't as good as any of them, but the girl just needed a little training and she would be able to at least stand by their side in a battle. The Third Hokage puffed on his pipe, observing the reaction of those in the room. Kakashi still looked worried, Sakura looked apprehensive, nervous and a little excited and the two boys- they looked excited, hopeful, annoyed and most of all- confident. They truly believed they were ready for whatever was out there. As he took his pipe away from his mouth and exhaled a cloud of smoke, he spoke, "no Kakashi, they are ready, some more than others, but ready none-the-less- this would be done eventually, why not do it now and take whatever comes with a bright fire burning in their hearts?"

The silver-haired man lowered his head. The Hokage was right of course- they would eventually have to take higher ranking missions outside the village, better to get it over with now and take all the good and bad that came with it than postpone and possibly drag his students into a situation they weren't prepared for. They were ready _now_ , so the team would do it _now_. The Copy-Nin bowed, "we will take the mission Hokage-Sama" he replied formally.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Naruto and Sasuke were back at the Uchiha compound, preparing for their first mission outside of the village. Naruto was understandably excited, and Sasuke, Hashirama, Asura, Indra and Madara felt the same way after being in the village for so long. The two boys packed all the things they'd need into their bags and scrolls, "hey Sasuke, what do you think will happen on this mission?" the blond asked curiously, strapping his Gunbai securely to his back. The Uchiha placed a medic kit in his bag for easy access, "well, this is only a simple escort mission with us hired to protect the bridge builder from bandits and things, so we shouldn't have too much trouble" he replied, hoisting the bag over his shoulder.

Naruto shuddered and gained a depressed aura, "somehow hearing you say that gives me a feeling of dread, like we've just jinxed ourselves" he replied. Sasuke rolled his eyes, used to the abrupt shifts in mood Naruto had that he'd picked up from his previous Transmigrant. He didn't get depressed often, but when he did it was very hard to break him out of it- unless you knew what to say of course. The Uchiha poked his younger brother in the side with the toe of his sandal, "come on already, there's nothing to get worried or depressed about Usuratonkachi, It's a simple mission, we'll complete it and be back home before you know it" he said in an annoyed tone. Naruto looked up at him with hopeful eyes, "do you really think everything will be okay?" he asked. Sasuke snorted, "and why wouldn't it be?" he asked, slightly amused.

Naruto took a deep breath and stood up, "okay, then let's get ready for our first mission away from home!" he shouted enthusiastically, fist-pumping the air. Sasuke felt a drop of sweat trail down the side of his head, "seriously, I think you're spending way too much time around Hashirama- you're starting to pick up on his bipolar-mood-swings" he said. Naruto bent over gloomily, "sorry for being so annoying" he moaned. Madara twitched, _"Sasuke,"_ he hissed, _"if he doesn't stop that now, I'm going to make him regret ever being born"_. The younger Uchiha stared at his friend, "Naruto, Madara says that if you don't stop acting like Hashirama and falling into random depressions, he's going to make you regret ever having been born" he repeated.

The blond boy lowered his head further, "well it's not my fault, don't blame me!" he wailed at his best friend. Sasuke just shook his head, "anyway, you have to stop doing that now anyway, since we have a mission to get to" he told the blond. Suddenly Naruto grinned and leapt up, "oh yeah, let's go! I'm all fired up now!" he cheered. Sasuke sighed and closed his eyes, "just make sure you have everything you need Usuratonkachi" he replied, going to continue packing his things away.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

Naruto and Sasuke met up with Sakura at the gates of the village, she already had a backpack packed with all her things in it. Of course she couldn't bring everything she'd wanted so she could stay looking nice for Sasuke, but she had enough to get by. They had only been waiting a few minutes when their teacher and client walked up. Naruto gaped in horror at the silver-haired man, "oh my god, you're on time! The world's going to end!" he cried, until Sakura attempted to punch him in the back of the head, "shut up idiot, we don't have time for your stupid jokes!" she cried. The blond boy dodged with ease, and pouted at the pink-haired girl, "geez Sakura, lighten up already, what's wrong with a joke or two to lighten the mood?" he asked.

"What's wrong with it is that it's annoying- I bet you couldn't be serious if your life depended on it!" Sakura complained. Naruto rolled his eyes, "oh, so you want me to be like broody 'Mc' brooder over here?" he asked, pointing at his brother, while said boy glared at him slightly. Sakura looked smug, "yes, because Sasuke-Kun is better than you in every way! You'll never be as strong as he is!" she shrieked. Those words hit him like a slap in the face, but he swiftly retorted, "oh yeah, well guess what banshee-Chan, I don't want to be like Sasuke!" he snapped.

Everyone looked confused at that, he'd always wanted to be like the other boy hadn't he? "Sasuke is Sasuke, and I won't try to be exactly like him, because I'm going to become the best 'me' that I can! I'm going to be stronger than everyone, just you wait and see, I don't care if Nii-Chan is stronger than me right now, because I have my own strength just waiting for me, and when I grow into it, you'll all be sorry for having looked down on me!" he yelled, before stomping on ahead in anger. Sasuke watched him go with a pained expression on his face, he defiantly knew what it felt like to feel inferior to an older brother- one who was so much stronger than he was, and he knew that both Asura and Naruto felt that same way, Asura because of Indra, and Naruto because of him.

It was strange that he could understand the younger, talentless brother as well as his own incarnations, but he wouldn't allow the other boy to feel that way anymore. He would do whatever it took to help Naruto get stronger as well, so that they could both bring peace to this world. Of that he swore. Sasuke turned towards Sakura, who still had a smug look on her face, "good riddance, I'm glad that weak idiot isn't around to bother us anymore, aren't you Sasuke-Kun?" she asked her crush. Instead of agreeing with her, Sasuke glared at her harshly. Sakura shrank back from the cold look "S-Sasuke-Kun?" she asked nervously. "When are you going to get it through your damn thick scull that I like Naruto! He's my precious little brother, and I _don't_ appreciate you insulting him every five minutes!" he exclaimed angrily.

"Naruto may have no talent, it's true, but he's got more strength of will than any of us and he trains himself hard every day! He pushes himself to the brink of _exhaustion_ just trying to become a person who can protect his friends- who can be proud of himself! Naruto is an idiot sometimes, but he still has more brains than _you_ and he actually cares for all his friends and comrades, even the people who aren't necessarily kind to him! his compassion and care, his desire to protect people and his love is stronger than you can ever imagine! He even cares about people who insult him constantly and who keep trying tear him down! He even wants to become Hokage just so that he can protect everyone in the village, the good with the bad- you know nothing and if you _still_ want to try and hurt my Otouto, you'll have to go through me first!" Sasuke cried.

The boy stared at his shocked Sensei, teammate and client, before turning and storming off in search of his brother. Everyone was left gaping and in shock by the Uchiha's words, but none more so than Sakura. _'Is it, really true?'_ she thought to herself, _'have I really been misjudging Naruto this whole time?'_ Sakura wondered. Lost in thought as she was, the pink-haired girl didn't notice when her Sensei leaned back against a tree, taking out his little orange book and beginning to read, while Tazuna was shocked speechless by the Genin's interactions with each other. The bridge builder then turned to face the white-haired Jonin, "hey, is it okay to leave things like this? Maybe one of us should go after them" he suggested, a worried look on his face. With his own observation skills, Kakashi could hear the worry that was in the man's tone. He shook his head slowly, while not taking his eyes off of the page in the book he was reading, "no, it's wise to just let the boys calm down on their own for a while, usually if one of them is angry enough and storms off, then the other will go to their aid almost immediately- it's as if they can tell when the other is suffering most and needs their presence, or when they need some space for a while so they back off" he explained calmly.

Meanwhile, Sakura was still thinking, and coming to a conclusion she didn't like. _'I really did hurt Naruto, he only ever tried to be nice to me and all I did was cause him pain over and over again! What kind of horrible person am I? Naruto never deserved that from me and yet, and yet I-'_ the girl's lips quivered, but she forced herself not to cry, _'no, I won't go back to being that useless cry-baby girl I was before- the next time I see Naruto, I'll do my best to make it up to him, I swear!'_

 ** _ŤƁ_**

When Naruto had gotten far enough away from his teammates and client, he began to hit at every rock he could see (not wanting to damage the tree's because Hashirama liked them). Once he had beaten and worked off his anger on the surrounding rocks, he collapsed to the ground panting. He refused to let other's views of him hide who he really was. And the most painful part was even though their relationship was strong, he knew that Sasuke still had a desire to be stronger than his older brother, even if he didn't end up killing him in the end.

Since that was so and since he had Indra's superiority complex, he would never accept Naruto being stronger than him even if he did make it. But he'd definitely try his best to keep Sasuke from being corrupted by that again, no matter what. Once Naruto had worked off his anger, another emotion began to take control, sadness. The blond brought his knees up to his chest, wrapped his arms around them and sobbed. He just wanted people to accept him, was that so hard to ask for? Why could no one ever- "Naruto!" the boy looked up at the call, and saw his older brother running up to him.

"Sasuke" he whimpered, too upset to care that he was crying like a baby. Sasuke had cried back when he truly realised that his family was gone, and Naruto hadn't judged him then, so why would Naruto expect Sasuke to judge him now? even so, there was a small voice in the back of his head that wondered if the other boy would think he was being stupid about this, tell him that he'd faced worse and to just suck it up. But those thoughts fell away when Sasuke walked up to him, knelt down and wrapped his arms around the blond, "shh, it's alright, just let it all out- I won't think any less of you, everyone needs to just cry sometimes, and it's not good to keep those emotions locked inside- even if we are Shinobi". It was too much, all his defensive walls fell down and Naruto sobbed and screamed and cried all his frustrations, anger, sorrow and pain away while being held in Sasuke's arms.

After twenty minutes of crying, he finally felt that he had exhausted the majority of his current pain, but there were still years worth of loneliness and neglect to work through. Though for now, it would have to be enough, they had a mission to complete after all.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

When the two boys returned to the team, Naruto didn't show any of the emotional torment Sakura's words had just put him through. Even though his smile seemed a little thinner, it was still almost impossible to tell that he had just spent the last twenty minutes bawling like a baby. Kakashi looked up from his book, "so, are you ready to go now?" he asked the two boys, though his question was mostly directed at Naruto. The Uzumaki nodded, "hai, I'm fine, let's get this mission started already" he said impatiently. He really just wanted to start the mission so that he could forget this ever happened. Their Sensei nodded, and began to walk away from the gate, "let's go" he said, while everyone followed. Since Tazuna was a civilian, they would have to walk the whole way.

As they walked, Naruto stayed next to Sasuke, staring at everything with wide eyes. It was still his first time out of the village after all. Sakura kept silent, waiting for the right time to apologise to the blond boy. Sasuke walked beside his brother, wanting to make sure he was okay. Kakashi walked ahead of them, eyes lazily watching the road before him. Tazuna walked in the middle of them. Sakura looked over at Kakashi, "Sensei, don't they have their own ninja in the Land of Waves?" she asked. He looked up from his book, "no, there are no Ninja in the Land of Waves, the only places that really have Shinobi are the five great hidden villages of Leaf, Sand, Mist, Stone and Cloud in the lands of Fire, Wind, Water, Earth and Lightning, though I have heard of several other villages in the smaller nations that have adopted the Ninja system, however, only those leaders of villages of the five great nations can be called Kage" he explained.

Everyone had their own thoughts about this, _'wow, Hokage-Sama is so cool!'_ Sakura thought **'Cha! I bet Sasuke could beat that old man no problem!'** Inner Sakura thought. _'Is the Hokage really that powerful? While I hate to think it, Itachi would probably be able to beat him, and I'm sure my previous Transmigrants could too'_ Sasuke thought to himself. _'I don't think he's stronger than you Hashirama, defiantly not more than you Asura'_ Naruto thought to his previous Transmigrants. Hashirama scratched the back of his head, _"ah, maybe, but Saru was pretty powerful back in his prime as well you know, I'm sure if he was about thirty years younger he could even give Madara and I a run for our money"_ he replied modestly, but also honestly.

"Hey!" Kakashi said harshly, and all the Genin froze "you just doubted Hokage-Sama, didn't you?!" he demanded. Naruto turned to his teacher, "well, I don't mean any disrespect, but I doubt he could beat someone like the Shodamine at the moment" he replied. The Jonin's glare turned into an eye-smile, "well, I do think Shodamine-Sama _was_ pretty awesome, I've never _seen_ him fight before of course, but he was the first person to be called the God Of Shinobi, he was a very powerful and feared man in combat from what I've read" he replied. Naruto grinned, his previous self was so awesome!

Just then they walked past a puddle on the road. _'Huh? Why's their a puddle here? I thought it hadn't rained for days?'_ Naruto thought, as he narrowed his eyes, _'something's not right'_ they walked on past the puddle for about 2 minutes and nothing happened, before suddenly a gasp from behind them drew their attention. Everyone whirled around and to their horror saw Kakashi bound by metal shuriken chains. The two men who had bound their teacher pulled the chains tight and in an instant the Jonin was turned into shredded flesh and blood. Sakura screamed, Sasuke froze and Naruto's eyes widened. He felt like he was going to be sick, but before he could even start, he felt the presence of one of the men behind him. The other had gone for Tazuna. It appeared like their first mission was about to end in all of their deaths!

To Be Continued 


	16. Chapter 15

Naruto was frozen in fear. The two enemy Shinobi who had attacked them and killed their Sensei had split up, one going for Tazuna and the other had appeared behind him. He could feel their desire to kill him in the air. Turning his head the little that he could, Naruto saw the man wore a large gauntlet on one arm with wicked and deadly sharp claws that would cut him to piece's in seconds. His mind and two past lives were screaming at him to move, but he couldn't hear them over the pounding of his own heart and the blood that was rushing in his ears. He was going to die. Oh god, he was going to die! _"Naruto! Get a grip, if you don't move you'll_ _ **die**_ _!"_ Hashirama cried. Thankfully that was enough to bring the blond out of his stupor, and his eyes widened before his training and instincts kicked in and he dodged the claws a second before they touched him.

He then stepped back and shot forwards, attacking in a blur of Taijutsu. Meanwhile the other Ninja had gone after Tazuna. Sakura jumped in front of him with a kunai knife, "get behind me!" she ordered. Sasuke appeared in front of her- it wasn't that he cared, not after what she had said to his brother, but if she died, there would be no one to protect Tazuna from these Shinobi. However before the Missing Mist Ninja, from the scratched headband that he could see around the enemies forehead clearly now, could touch them, he was suddenly in a headlock, with the other Shinobi unconscious over the shoulder of- Kakashi-Sensei! He was alive! Naruto came up to them quickly, "Sasuke, you okay?!" he asked, a slightly worried look on his face, since he knew just how strong his older brother was. The Uchiha nodded, and Kakashi eye-smiled, "well done you three, Sasuke, Sakura, you protected the client, and Naruto, you were able to push your opponent pretty far before I took care of him, well done!"

Naruto beamed, glad to have done something that his Sensei approved of. The Jonnin turned to look at their defeated opponents, "alright, I think we need to have a talk- Tazuna" he said, while the bridge builder looked down.

 ** _ŤƁ_**

After a good amount of pitiful whining from the Bridge Builder when Kakashi had suggested returning to the village since the mission was now B-rank, and both Naruto and Sasuke refusing to go back, Kakashi had agreed to continue the mission. Now the group was sitting in a boat, being rowed across the ocean and into the Land of Waves. Naruto felt on edge and kept staring around them, unable to relax. His hand was on the handle of his Gunbai, rhythmically tightening and loosening his hold, trying to calm himself, but he had a very bad feeling. It turned out a tyrant named Gato had crippled the Land Of Waves' Economy, which relied on fishing and trading with other lands to survive by taking over the transport- though he posed as a business man, underneath he ran human trafficking, drug runs, and other corrupt dealings.

Kakashi had told them that Gato would send Jonnin-level Missing Ninja after them next time. Sasuke was staring around them with his Sharingan activated, trying to spot any threats, while he was rolling a Chakra pill in his hand, waiting for when he'd have to take it. Sakura was staring around herself as well, jumping at every movement of the boat and sound of the waves. Suddenly a huge construct loomed over them. Looking up, Naruto saw it was the uncompleted bridge. _'Holly Shit! That's the bridge? It's huge!'_ he thought to himself. Hashirama nodded, _"it is big- even to me, and I've made bigger constructs with my Mokuton"_ he said. A few minutes later they were standing on the shore of the Land Of Waves. Tazuna turned to the boatman, "thank you for doing this, especially since you had to risk your safety to help us" he said. The man nodded, "just take care Tazuna, and finish that bridge, otherwise all these risks we're taking won't mean anything" he replied, before he turned on the motor and drove off.

The Bridge Builder turned inland, "now, if you can get me home safely-" he started, before Kakashi nodded, "don't worry Tazuna-San, we will- let's move team" he replied. Everyone continued walking, alert for any sound. Suddenly there was a rustling in the bushes and everyone tensed. A rabbit jumped out of the leaves onto the path. Tazuna and Sakura relaxed and the girl cooed at the animal, but the male Shinobi stayed tensed, and narrowed their eyes, _'it's fur is white, but it's the middle of Summer, it shouldn't be that colour,'_ Kakashi thought, _'unless-_ _ **it was raised inside away from the sun, specifically for a substitution!'**_ Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, Madara and Hashirama thought at the same time. There was a whooshing sound in the air, "Sakura, get down!" Naruto yelled, while Sasuke tackled the bridge builder.

It was lucky they moved when they did, because it was at that moment that a gigantic sword flew through the air over their heads and embedded itself in the tree behind them with a huge _crack!_ Everyone stood up and turned around just as a man appeared standing on the handle of the sword. He wore no shirt, but instead cow-print arm and leg warmers, Shinobi sandals and a slashed Hidden Mist Headband around the side of his head. Kakashi narrowed his eyes, "well, well, well, Zabuza Momichi, I never expected to see you here" he stated, standing casually, but there was a definite tenseness to his body. Everyone looked confused, then Zabuza spoke up, "Kakashi Hatake, the Copy Ninja, what a pleasant surprise, why don't you hand over the Bridge Builder and I won't have to kill you and the little Genin you have stumbling along behind you" he replied.

Sasuke and Naruto glared at the Missing-Nin, but Naruto especially. Why did _everyone always_ have to look down on him? Kakashi matched Zabuza's glare with one of his own, "sorry, not possible Zabuza, we have our own mission and we will make sure it's completed" he replied. Zabuza shrugged, "alright, if that's how you want it," he jumped off his sword, grabbing it's handle and ripping it out of the tree with one hand. The man landed on the surface of the water, and placed his giant sword back on his back. Then he held one arm straight up in the air, and the other in front of his chest, the fingers of both in the Seal of Confrontation and began focusing his Chakra, "Water Style: Hidden Mist Jutsu!" Zabuza cried, and a thick mist, much thicker than before began to form around them.

"Everyone Maji formation, protect the Bridge builder!" Kakashi called as all three Genin got into position around Tazuna with their kunai out. For a few minutes it was dead silent other than the sound of everyone's breathing. "Eight points" the voice came from everywhere at once, and it caused Sakura and Tazuna to jump. The two boys had to try very hard not to do the same. "Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys, heart- now, which will be my target?" Naruto could feel it in the air. The Killing Intent. With it came memories of darkness, fire, screaming, running, pain- agony! The blond gasped, _'get a grip damn it, you're not dead yet!'_ he thought fiercely. However, looking over at Sasuke, Naruto's eyes widened.

The boy was even worse than he had been. His eyes were wide and clouded, his entire body trembling, his face was pale and sweat was dripping down the side of his face. He also didn't seem to be breathing. Damn it! Sasuke must be seeing the Massacre, the memories of the last time he was subjected to Killing Intent. As he watched, the Uchiha slowly raised the hand holding his kunai and positioned it shakily in front of his throat. Naruto's eyes widened in horror- holy crap! Sasuke was going to kill himself! Immediately, the blond reached over and gripped the other boys arm tightly. That seemed to snap his brother out of the trance he was in, at least a little. The Uchiha turned his wide, frightened eyes to Naruto and stared at him. The Uzumaki leveled a serious look on his older brother, "it's okay Sasuke, you're not alone in this- I promise I'll always be here for you, even if it's just for you to lean on when you get tired- I am your brother, and I always will be- after all, bonds are not always forged by blood" he stated, staring straight into Sasuke's eyes.

The black-haired boy stared at him for a moment, before his eyes cleared and he nodded, "thank you Naruto, and you're right of course, I'm not alone in this, and I don't always have to do everything by myself- if I am not strong enough to do something on my own, I know that I'll always have you to support me no matter what" he smiled slightly, while Naruto grinned. "But will that bond save you from me?!" Zabuza's voice called, and suddenly he was in the middle of all of them, with his giant sword ready to be swung and kill them all. Naruto was directly in the swords path, and when Zabuza brought it down, Sasuke's eyes widened, "Naruto!" he exclaimed, moving to intercept it. The giant blade was inches from the Uchiha's neck when suddenly Naruto was standing their instead and blocking the sword with his Gunbai.

"I won't let anyone I care about die! Not when I have the power to save them!" the blond said, glaring dangerously at the Missing-Nin. Zabuza scoffed slightly, "that Gunbai of yours is made of some strong stuff, I had expected it to be cleaved in half along with your body" he replied, pushing harder while Naruto grunted. His Gunbai may be virtually indestructible, but that didn't mean that he was physically strong enough to hold back someone of Zabuza's strength- not yet at least. Suddenly the Zabuza he was fighting against turned into water and splashed to the ground. Naruto blinked, and looked up, only to see Kakashi standing there with a kunai knife in hand, "damn, he used a water clone" the Konoha Jonin muttered. In that moment, everyone noticed two things about Kakashi. One, he had his left eye uncovered. And two, in that left eye was a fully matured Sharingan.

 _'What?'_ Naruto thought, _'how does Kakashi-Sensei have a Sharingan? He's not an Uchiha like Sasuke, Madara, or even Indra, so how did-?'_ , _'What is that? that eye? It's all red and weird, why does Kakashi-Sensei have an eye like that?'_ Sakura wondered, looking creeped out and awed at the same time. _'How does Kakashi have the Sharingan? He couldn't be an Uchiha, could he?'_ Sasuke thought. Madara shook his head, _"no, he's not an Uchiha, for one thing all his physical attributes are wrong- besides with only one Sharingan eye, all the clues point towards a transplant from an Uchiha, though I doubt he's the type of person that would rip the eyes out of one of our Clansmen, so I would hazard a guess that the eye was gifted to him by a member of our Clan, one that was very close to Kakashi"_ the former Uchiha Patriarch guessed.

"Ah, the Sharingan, I get to see it so soon- lucky me" Zabuza's voice called out from the mist. "You shouldn't really consider yourself lucky Zabuza," Kakashi stated, "everyone who's seen this eye has never lived to talk about it". The Demon of the Mist chuckled, "well then, let's see if you really are as good as they say Kakashi!" Zabuza cried. Suddenly a huge burst of Chakra, coming from Kakashi exploded through the area and pushed some of the mist away. Zabuza's killing intent rose, as did his own Chakra levels. Sasuke choked, the air was so thick with cold Chakra and killing intent. It pushed down on him like an invisible hand, crushing the very life out of him. He knew his previous Transmigrants had been far stronger than this, but it was still overwhelming.

It was all around him, inside of him, _'this feeling- it's as though the tiniest breath, the slightest movement of the eye- would be enough to draw his attack. Like I'm nothing more than someone waiting to die'_ the pressure built and Sasuke felt like he was slowly being drowned and then crushed by the pressure, _'if it goes on like this I'll go insane!'_ he thought, as his chest ached for air that wouldn't come. The atmosphere was so heavy and charged with Chakra, that trying to breath it felt like liquid stone, making his chest hurt even more. It was unbearable! _'no, I can't take it, I don't wanna die like this!'_ Sasuke thought, as his trembling hands brought his kunai up to his chest. _"Woah, he's really going to-"_ Madara cried, but it wasn't them who snapped the Uchiha out of his suicidal thoughts.

Suddenly, a warm Chakra washed over all four of them. Sasuke felt the horrible cold that had invaded his body and numbed his mind to anything but terror melt away, and he finally breathed in, the ach in his chest beginning to die down. The young Uchiha took several deep breaths and turned to the source of the warm Chakra, to see Naruto staring at him with determined eyes. Sasuke stared back at his younger brother, "Otouto-" he breathed. Naruto met his eyes, "I've said it once and I'll say it again- I won't let anyone harm my precious people, if you even think about touching my Nii-San-" his eyes hardened and he glared out at the mist, "I'll make you wish you hadn't been born" he hissed. The blonds Chakra rose, and the force of it was enough to push away the mist, revealing Zabuza standing nearby.

The man chuckled darkly, and smirked, "oh really, well why don't we see if you can back up your claim then?" he asked. Suddenly another Zabuza clone was in between them again, but this time, it moved faster than anyone could see and kicked Sasuke away from the others and onto the lake. Naruto was going to follow, but remembered the bridge builder. With only himself and Sakura guarding him, they had to be very careful. Sasuke emerged through the surface of the lake with a gasp and coughing as Zabuza ran over. Suddenly he stopped and looked at the ground with a chuckle, "Makibishi spikes? You underestimate me" the bandaged man said, before leaping over the trap and onto the surface of the lake. The Uchiha was struggling to stay surfaced, this water was so thick.

Wait- thick? No- that was Chakra in the water! The black-haired boy tried to swim away, but the thickness of the water made it hard to move through, "now!" Zabuza exclaimed, doing hand signs. Naruto's eyes widened as Hashirama informed him what they were for, "Sasuke, get out of their!" he yelled. Zabuza smirked, "too late!" he called, finishing his Jutsu and holding out his hand: "Water Style! Water Prison Jutsu!" he called. The water shifted and swirled around Sasuke, lifting him up and surrounding him in a round bubble of Chakra-laced water. Sasuke was trapped, "Nii-San!" Naruto called with wide eyes as Sakura gasped.

Be Continued


End file.
